The Art of Life
by Rabytte
Summary: Little bits and pieces of what-could-have-beens and what-ifs concerning Hinata Hyuga, including but not limited to falling for the wrong boys and waiting too long for the right ones. Mostly unrelated drabbles set in different AUs, various pairings but Hinata-centric
1. Blankets

He proposes in an Akimichi restaurant where they're serenaded by violins, surrounded by cooing couples and bathed in moonlight.

Toneri carefully puts the silver diamond ring onto Hinata's finger. The answer Hinata would give was never uncertain yet his normally steady hands are trembling and he's just as terrified as Hinata is. But they're young. It doesn't matter what the future holds for them; they have a lifetime to face it together, for better and for worse.

He stands up, brushes the pants of his suit, then catches Hinata's lips with his own.

"I'll love you," he tells her seriously after their chase kiss and the clapping of the audience. For once, Hinata's not paying attention to what the world thinks of her and she smiles back, eyes only on the boy, the _man_ she's known since childhood.

"Then I'll love you too."

* * *

Hinata's alone in a taxi when it happens. She's on the phone with her friends, telling them about the proposal they all knew was coming. She doesn't see blaring lights, doesn't hear any loud honking or the taxi driver's cursing.

Hinata doesn't really remember the car accident.

She doesn't really remember anything. At all.

* * *

She wakes up to fluorescent lights and bone-white walls. She's lying on a soft bed, unfamiliar and probing tubes and needles sticking into her from all angles.

The doctors and nurses swarm over her within seconds. They coddle her, they use a remote control to help her sit up, gently coax the tube out of her throat when they're satisfied after a few questions about how she's feeling.

They begin monologues and lectures on brains and electric impulses and spinal cords and things that simply go over her head. She nods on cue, smiles when the nurses look at her sceptically and tries to pretend she knows what they're talking about even when half the interns present are as confused as she is.

"Basically," the head doctor concludes magnanimously as she shrinks away from him, "if I asked you your name, you couldn't tell me."

She blinks. Then again. Her thoughts are blank, don't offer up the one piece of information that she should, if anything, know. "Oh," she says, voice hoarse from weeks of disuse, if the nurses are to be believed.

"Don't worry, we'll put your picture up in the newspapers and your family will be sure to collect you," the doctor continues. "It's a pity that you didn't have any ID with you during the crash."

"The... Crash?"

"Car crash. You were in a taxi that was hit by another car. The driver died," the doctor says. He looks down at her through his spectacles. "I'd expect you don't remember."

"Um… no?"

"Exactly," the doctor says, supremely smug while giving her some kind of intimidating look. She shrinks into her bed and one of the interns, maybe a younger doctor puts a hand on her shoulder. It's comforting and warm and she shoots her a sort of grateful glance as the head doctor finishes waxing lyrical about how _brilliant_ he is and leaves with his entourage, telling the younger doctor to stay with her.

"I'm sorry," the younger doctor says, who has been thus far referred to as 'you, girl'. "He's quite up himself. But he's actually a brilliant surgeon. He fixed you up."

"Oh," she says.

"I'm Sakura, Sakura Haruno," the doctor says with a cheerful smile. "I'll be taking care of you for the rest of your stay here."

Sakura helps her take out the rest of the tubes and needles that are left in her; Sakura says that she doesn't really need them. She helps her walk around the ward and the girl can tell that Sakura is surprised by how agile and strong she still is.

"You were out for so long," Sakura tells her. "We had to do some skin grafting and stuff. You are really lucky, they were only burns and a bit of head damage, no broken bones or anything, but I'm really surprised that you're this healthy, that your cognitive abilities and reactions weren't impaired at all. It's almost like you weren't in an accident."

"Besides the memory loss," she says, giving Sakura a side smile. Sakura smiles back; she's a lovely person, she thinks. She's very kind to her, obeying her every whim before she's figured them out herself. Sakura brings in her own clothes for her to wear so that she doesn't have to wear the hospital gowns and brings her pictures of the outside world. Sakura protects her from the crowds of curious doctors and interns too with a fiery glare and sharp words that makes her want to curl up and hope that she's got family out there who are as kind to her as Sakura is.

Only that, of course, they haven't come for her.

"Your crash was on the news," Sakura says, tapping her chin worriedly. "And then when you woke up, your face was on the news again and newspapers and everything. They'll definitely come soon."

She forces a smile and slumps beside Sakura. "Yes."

"The hospital wants you out, though," Sakura continues and the girl freezes with the realisation she's going to be homeless very, very soon. "So I thought that maybe you'd like to flat with me?"

The girl gapes and looks at Sakura in astonishment. "But… but you don't even know me!"

But there's something knowing in Sakura's eyes that makes her want to melt and let Sakura take care of her forever. "I know you enough to know that you're a lovely, good person, and that's enough for me," Sakura says, beaming. "What do you say? It'll be fun! My flatmate just left a few months ago to get married, so there's definitely space for you. My only concern would be my working hours; I'm really only ever home to sleep."

"T-That's…" she's torn over whether to protest that she couldn't possibly take advantage of Sakura like this, or to assure Sakura that she'll be fine on her own. "That's all right, Sakura. You've already done more than enough for me, I couldn't make you d-"

"That's great!" Sakura grins, taking her hand before she can say that she's fine with going to a homeless shelter. "I'll sign you out myself when my shift's over! We'll have to go shopping after this, if you're up for it. After that we can go out for dinner, Kami knows that _I'd_ be sick of the food here if I were you."

"B-"

"You're right, you _do_ need a name," Sakura says and the girl stares at Sakura in astonishment. Since when was Sakura this selective and forceful? "Any ideas?"

"N-No, not really?"

"Hmm…" Sakura says, pulling back to look at her. "You're really optimistic and bright, you know, for what's happened to you," Sakura says and the girl thinks, _no, you're the bright and optimistic one_. "And you've bounced back so quickly that it's nothing short of a miracle. I bet if you'd woken up in a normal house, you wouldn't have guessed that you were injured."

"R-Really?" she asks, not quite sure where Sakura is going with this.

"You're too brilliant," Sakura says with that warming teasing voice of hers. "You're too pretty, always happy and lovely no matter what. I think I'll call you Hanako."

Hanako frowns, tilts her head then smiles. "Hanako," she says, testing the syllables out on her tongue. They flow off so easily that she's almost sure that that's what she must have been called when she had her memories. But Hanako thinks that there's something _wrong_ with the name, something that makes her squirm and brings tears to her eyes. "I like it."

"I'm glad you do," Sakura says, beaming so widely that Hanako tries to match it. Her lips stretch across her face and suddenly the two of them are laughing and the other patients and nurses are rolling their eyes, aware that the hospital is really just a 24-hour day care centre for Hanako, a place where she's laughing and playing on the hospital's old Xbox 180 with Sakura more often than not.

"You have it so easy," one of the doctors whine when he checks Hanako over before she's released. There's really no point in any of this; Hanako could have walked out of the hospital the moment her eyes opened. "You might as well not be doing any work."

Sakura just laughs teasingly and takes Hanako's hand to lead her out of the hospital and into the afternoon sun. She drags her to a shopping mall and down the high streets of Konoha, pulling and pushing clothes at Hanako and making her try them on. By the time dinner comes, they've bought an alarming amount of clothes and shoes that come with a sky-high bill. When Hanako points that out to Sakura as they drive to Sakura's apartment, she laughs it off.

"I'm too rich, Hana," Sakura grins. "I'm working more than I'm not. It's nice to have someone to spend it on, to spoil, and it's nothing you wouldn't do for me."

Sakura's apartment is in one of those classy areas that makes Hanako's eyes widen. The older female just laughs and gestures for Hanako to go into the elegant, modern flat. It's beautiful in its own way, Hanako thinks, but terrifyingly impersonal and unlived in. But there are strange touches of warmth that seem out of place; a painting of a sun in the living room and a collection of pressed flowers and photo albums. Sakura directs her to her new room.

"The bed and stuff is ready already," Sakura says and flushes a little. "Ino sometimes comes here when she quarrels with Sai. They've not been married long but they're as dramatic as ever."

"Th-"

Sakura rolls her eyes. "Ino's fine with you staying here, it's not like this is really Ino's room anymore."

"B-"

"If Ino comes back, I'll just kick her out," Sakura shrugs. Hanako stares; Sakura's becoming something of a psychic. "She shouldn't have married Sai if she's going to argue with him every other day."

Ino comes up a lot in Hanako and Sakura's often one sided conversations. Hanako understands that Ino's Sakura's best friend; they attended everything from nursery to university together, even taking medicine together until Ino decided to go for neurosurgery and Sakura went for a less intensive specialist role. Ino was, once, the best neurosurgeon in the country after her father, but she'd quit her job some time ago to become a florist instead.

"She sometimes comes in to help out," Sakura says when Hanako stares at Sakura in horror. Ino studied _neurosurgery_ only to become a florist?! Not only that; Ino had even _finished_ the entire course successfully. What was the point of all those years of study if Ino's just selling flowers now? "She's also into the really science-y ground-breaking research so she's helping cure dementia part-time. That's how she met Sai."

"But... Isn't Sai an artist?" Hanako blinks.

"He is," Sakura says so seriously as she dishes up the instant ramen that Hanako drops the subject.

"My friends want to meet you," Sakura says. "They're really curious about you. I've spent more time with you in the past few weeks than I have with all of them put together. They're probably wondering which pretty girl caught my attention."

Hanako chokes and hopes that Sakura is joking because, _I don't swing that way, sorry Sakura_, and is maybe slightly glad that while she's recovering from the hot noodles nearly sliding down the wrong pipe she doesn't have to panic about the fact that Sakura wants to meet her friends. Her _family_, as Sakura once called them.

Hanako doesn't deal well with strangers. She's not sure if it's because she doesn't have an assurance of a lifetime of memories or if she's always been like this. Sakura's the only person to invade through Hanako's defences, and she's the only person that Hanako can trust, especially when she can't trust herself to make the right decisions. Sakura's been there for her as long as she can remember, and even if that isn't actually that long, Hanako wants Sakura to trust and genuinely like her as much as Hanako does her. Accidentally offending Sakura's family is a sure-fire way of failing that.

"You don't have to meet them now," Sakura says. "And not all at once. I'm just worried that you'll get lonely, Hana, and I want some people to be there to look after you just in case something goes wrong."

Hanako nods and takes a bite of noodles so that she doesn't have to answer. She's never said no to Sakura before. She doesn't intend to start now.

* * *

Ino Yamanaka is as vivacious and as much of a diva as Hanako imagined her to be. She's bubblier than Sakura, even bright if possible and her smile as blindingly brilliant. She takes Hanako under her wing when Sakura's gone, showing her the flowers in her shop and teaching Hanako how to make floral arrangements and work the till. Her mouth works faster than the rate of money that the popular florist makes and by the end of the first day with her, Hanako thinks that she knows Ino's entire life story and exactly why Sai is a useless couch potato.

Sasuke Uchiha is much, much darker. He sends Hanako odd looks and grim faced scowls when he babysits her in Sakura's apartment. Sakura says he's her boyfriend of five years, but Hanako can't fathom out how on earth the cheerful Sakura could fall for someone so brooding and depressing. But she tries her best to be friendly since Sakura really does love him and ends up cooking for Sasuke and staring at him throughout lunch. She looks past the mask that he presents to Hanako and the world, looks past the glittering glares and perpetual frown. At the end of it when Sasuke raises an eyebrow at her, Hanako tells him that he's softer than he looks. Sasuke sends her such a horrified gape that Hanako giggles and thinks that she knows why Sakura loves him so much.

Hanako meets Shikamaru and Temari Nara at the same time. They've been together forever, Sakura tells her, and quarrel more than Sai and Ino. But their quarrels aren't over huge things like Ino and Sai's. They're over petty little things from the non-existent scratch on the car to the exact colour of Sakura's walls. They take her out to a café, quarrelling all the way, and Temari angrily orders lunch for all of them.

"Two green teas, a black coffee with no sugar, one seafood chowder, one chocolate muffin and a cinnamon bun," Temari snaps. Hanako blinks.

"I think Hanako can order for herself," Shikamaru says when the waitress is gone. Temari positively glowers.

"Hanako likes cinnamon buns, _right_?"

"Yes," Hanako squeaks. Shikamaru looks faintly worried for a split second, then shrugs and mutters a _troublesome_.

Naruto Uzumaki argues with Sasuke as explosively as Shikamaru argues with Temari, but Sakura insists that she, Sasuke and Naruto grew up together, and talks so often about Naruto that Hinata thinks she knows him before she's even met him. Where Sakura is bright, Sasuke is dark and Naruto seems to be the glue that holds them together. Naruto brings Hanako to his favourite places around the city and chatters brightly _with _Hanako. Where Ino had talked _at_ her, where Sasuke had only strangely accurate insults at the tip of his tongue and Temari and Shikamaru just argued, Naruto chats with Hanako. He asks her of her opinions, lets her choose where they go and never once brings up the fact that Hanako doesn't have her memories and is just a pity case of Sakura's.

By the end of the end with Naruto, Hanako thinks she's in love. But when she goes back to Sakura's apartment, she sits by the windows and stares at the moon pensively.

* * *

She meets Neji Hyuga, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka in the New Year party that Sakura throws at her apartment. They take a look at her, have a double take when Sakura introduces her and seem to blanch.

"_Hanako_," Neji Hyuga says silkily, disturbing white eyes flickering between Sakura and Hanako. "Is that your name?"

"Y-Yes," Hanako says. She's terrified, really, of the three intimidating men who look ready to murder someone. "I-I, I mean, I-"

"I named her," Sakura says defiantly. "_Problem_, Neji?"

"_Kami_, Sakura, is this some kind of a joke?!" Kiba explodes and Hanako takes a step back, behind Sakura. "I-"

Ino and Sai then appear and they drag the snarling three men away and out of the apartment, citing that they need to talk to them. They don't come back. Sakura sends Hanako an apologetic look. "I'm sorry," Sakura says. "Neji's cousin died a few months ago and those three were really close to her. They're all a bit volatile at the moment."

"O-Oh," Hanako says, still half hiding behind Sakura. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Sakura says. She sends Hanako an odd look. "I think Hinata's happier now than when she was alive."

* * *

Hanako understands that something is very, very wrong when Neji, Kiba and Shino appear the next day while she's alone in the apartment and call her Hinata.

They show her a photo of Hinata Hyuga. She and Hanako have the same high cheekbones and pale skin, but Hanako has straight black hair and brown eyes with pupils as opposed to Hinata's long indigo hair and freakish white, pupiless eyes. When Hanako points that out, Neji Hyuga looks so betrayed that Hanako falters and says that his cousin was very pretty. Neji looks slightly vindicated.

They tell her Ino Yamanaka is a neurosurgeon who has been specialising in memories and amnesia for years now, that Sai has always been known to dabble in the less than legal things. Hanako tells them that she knows that, that Ino's going to cure dementia.

They tell her that Sakura's no doctor, that no hospital would assign a _doctor_ to a patient for round the clock observation when Hinata, _Hanako_ was clearly perfectly fine, that no one could go through a car accident where the car supposedly burst into flames and killed the taxi driver and come out as unscathed as Hanako. That no self respecting hospital would put so many tubes into Hinata, _sorry_, Hanako only to pull them out when her eyes opened without a few days observation.

The doctor that Hanako had first met, they claim, was an actor. They pull out profiles, poke at the medical procedures that Hanako underwent at the hospital and tell her that everything's just _wrong_. And they're right.

"Are you a doctor?" Hanako asks. She's starting to panic at the sheer determination and conviction in each of the three men's eyes and she wishes that she'd never opened the door. But Sakura's going to be back in less than an hour to take care of this mess and if the men are so convinced that Hanako's a girl that they all loved, surely they wouldn't do anything to her. Right?

"No," Neji Hyuga says. He's clearly frustrated, and he's struggling to keep his voice gentle and calm. "But my family, _our _family owns the local hospital and there is no record of you ever being there."

"But I'm nameless," Hanako says. "They wouldn't have had any name for me."

Kiba rolls his eyes. "They'd still have had to record you down as Hanako or whatever."

"There is no record of the car crash either," Neji says, continuing his tirade. "There has not been any news of a taxi crash, no news of anyone who has lost their memories, nothing."

Hanako falters at this. Sakura has promised her since she woke up that she was doing everything that she could to contact her family. But she still trusts Sakura more than these insane strangers. Sakura has protected her for so long from so many things, and Hanako's nothing but grateful to her. "You're lying," Hanako tells them.

"I can show you every news clip and newspaper in the past year," Neji counters. "My family owns the media here."

Hanako's eyes narrow. "Your family seems to own _everything_."

Kiba laughs at this and even Neji looks amused. "The Hyuga name is very powerful," Neji says. "Powerful and old. Our company is called the Byakugan, which you're the heiress of."

"No," Hanako says firmly. She stands up and looks clearly at all three men. "Hinata Hyuga _was_. She's dead and you have to accept that."

"B-"

"Even if I _was_ Hinata Hyuga," Hanako says, "I'm not now and never will be. I'm Hanako now, and I'm happy as I am. If you really loved Hinata and if you really think I'm her, then for _Hinata_, please leave me alone. Please don't come back."

"You know we're right!" Shino Aburame snaps. "You _know it_. And you won't accept it because you're too kind hearted for your own good and you think you owe something to Sakura. You won't accept it because you've never had the bravery to stop accepting things you do not deserve and to vie for what you do."

* * *

Hanako all but throws the three men out before Sakura returns. She does it with a strength and fury that she never knew she possessed, does it with the certainty that they would never hurt her.

In the calm after the storm, Hanako's hands shake and she considers the picture of Hinata Hyuga that was left behind on the coffee table. A series of numbers is written carefully at the back, the name _Hanabi_ written underneath. Hanako tries the name, saying it three times in the silence.

She'd always thought that Hanako sounded wrong.

* * *

"My name's Hanako," Hanako says. Hanabi Hyuga nods, half distracted by the phone in her hands and takes a sip of coffee. She makes a face and looks ready to call a waitress over to berate her. "I understand that your sister disappeared five months ago."

And suddenly she's got Hanabi's full attention. The younger woman's white eyes are sharp and intrusive and they cut through Hanako's soul. "And?"

"I was told that all the police and private detectives refused to help," Hanako says.

"They were bought off by the Uchiha," Hanabi snaps. "What of it?"

"I'm new here," Hanako says. "The Uchiha don't know me. Tell me who Hinata Hyuga is and I'll find her for you."

Hanabi's eyes bore into Hanako's. "So she's alive?"

"Tell me about Hinata and we'll see."

* * *

Hanako leaves Hanabi in the café with a spinning head and calculating thoughts. She walks straight into Naruto Uzumaki whose eyes widen.

"H-_Hi_, Hanako," Naruto says, clearly surprised. Hanako can't help the shy blush.

"Hi, Naruto," she says.

"What are you doing?" he asks, looking around. "Are you out with someone?"

"I thought I'd take a walk," Hanako says. She'd slipped past Shikamaru when he'd fallen asleep, perhaps because of the thick chamomile tea she'd served him. She'd felt bad for a few seconds, but Shikamaru's the most likely to fall asleep and Sakura's always got someone watching her. There was a time when Hanako had thought it meant that Sakura worried for her so much, but Hanako's wondering if there's a slightly more sinister twist, if Sakura's motives aren't so pure. "What about you?"

"I'm actually on my way home," Naruto says. "Do ya want to come? We can have dinner together or something. I mean, if you want, it's not a date or anything _unless you want it to be_, bu-"

_Hinata really loved this boy, said he was all rainbows and sunshine. His name was Naruto Uzumaki but apparently it didn't work out or something. No one knows why. She said that she ended it, but I think my sister loved him too much to have ever done that to him_.

"I'd love to," Hanako says.

* * *

"Who's this?"

"That's Hinata," Naruto says, barely glancing at the silver frame on top of the bookshelf in his living room. He bites his lip. "She… she's Neji's cousin."

"Oh," Hanako says, carefully putting the frame down. "I've never met her, but, um, Neji said something about her."

"Yeah," Naruto says, grin suddenly strained. "She disappeared a few months ago. Everyone really loved her, even Sakura, so I thought she'd have told you about her."

"Sakura?"

"Yeah," Naruto says, cocking his head. "Hinata flatted with Sakura and Ino until she disappeared. They were best friends, the three of them. They'd have done anything for each other. Sakura really took it hard when Hinata disappeared. I'm really grateful to you for helping her through it."

_Best friends?_

"O-Oh," Hanako says. "Um, n-no, it's no problem. Sakura's lovely."

Naruto looks ready to say something, then shakes his head. "Hinata was too. She was going to get married, ya know. That's why everyone was so confused when she disappeared."

Hanako frowns. Hanabi didn't mention any engagements, only unrequited crushes and heartbreaks. "She was?"

"Yeah. She disappeared the night Toneri proposed to her," Naruto explains. "Toneri's… this guy, I guess. They'd known each other since forever and they were always going to get married. She said… they really loved each other."

"Well," Hanako says slowly, mind whirring, "from what Neji told me about Hinata, I think she really loved you."

* * *

She calls Hanabi that night, voice low and quiet so that Sakura doesn't hear. Toneri Ōtsutsuki was betrothed to Hinata Hyuga the moment Hinata was born and pronounced to be a female. It had been a match made in heaven and everyone, apart from the two to be married, had been pleased for one reason or another.

"Clan politics," Hanabi says dismissively. "You don't need to know. Anyway, the arranged marriage to be fell through when the Ōtsutsuki were murdered. A plane crash. But Hinata and Toneri found each other later and fell in love or something. It was just after Hinata broke up with Naruto and Toneri had broken up with some other girl."

"I don't think the arranged marriage fell through," Hanako tells Hanabi. "And I don't think Toneri and Hinata fell in love either."

"What, you're saying Ōtsutsuki did away with my sister?" Hanabi asks, voice sharp. "Think carefully about that, Hanako. Toneri loved my sister, romantically or not, and he almost razed the city down when he learnt Hinata disappeared."

"Not him," Hanako says. She sighs. "Hinata really did love Naruto, and Sakura's really good friends with Naruto, and Hinata, Ino and Sakura were best friends."

"_What_?"

"Do you know who Ino Yamanaka is?" Hanako asks. "She specialises in memory and amnesia. I'm told she's going to cure dementia. I don't think she is."

"Are you sa-"

"Sakura really cares about Naruto. He's her brother. Hinata was also Sakura's best friend, wasn't she?" Hanako points out. "She wanted them to be happy and so she must have stolen Hinata away. They flatted together, right? It would have been easy. Ino did the rest for her; changed Hinata's memories. They all knew that Hinata would spiral back to Naruto, even if she lost her memories. Hinata loved Naruto too much, didn't she? Everyone kept on telling me that; that Hinata Hyuga loved Naruto Uzumaki, that it's the one true fact of life. And Naruto loves Hinata too. Even if he doesn't know she's Hinata, he'll still love her."

Hanabi's silent for a moment. "So if I want to find Hinata, I have to find a girl that's dating Naruto?"

"I suppose."

"Will she look like Hinata?"

"They wouldn't be careless, Hinata's features are too distinctive," Hanako says. "I talked to Sasuke; Sakura's no doctor. She's a chemist. She can change eye colours, hair colours, skin colours and so much more with a few chemicals."

"How do you know that Sasuke's not lying?" Hanabi demands, but there's a desperation in the young girl's voice that tells Hanako that Hanabi's sold on the idea. She _wants_ it to be true. Even though Hanako knows by now that she was born Hinata Hyuga, she can't help but feel jealous of Hinata. Hinata's loved so, so much. Hanako is just… _Hanako_. Sakura's little guinea pig. She'll never be the Hinata that Hanabi and Neji know and love. She'll only disappoint them.

"As I understand it," Hanako says, "Hinata was part of the group of people that saved Sasuke from the Uchiha. He owes Hinata a debt and he repaid it to me."

"I thought Sasuke was the one who ordered the ban of searching for Hinata."

"That was his uncle," Hanako says. "And that was just to aggravate you. Madara Uchiha told me that if the Hyuga really wanted to find Hinata, you'd have asked the Aburame and Inuzuka for help."

Hanabi laughs, sharp and bitter. "We asked them for help. Kiba and Shino refused. They're the heirs of the Aburame and Inuzuka. Once they refused, their families wouldn't help out either. Apparently Hinata is definitely dead."

"When did they tell you this?" Hanako asks.

"A few weeks ago, sometime around new year's," Hanabi says. "Why?"

Hanako just smiles, gently and softly. "Nothing."

* * *

Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka are arrested the next day by the Hyuga military. Apparently no evidence is needed because no trial will take place. Neji was right when he said that the Hyuga name was powerful.

Hanako's allowed to talk to them in the cells and the reason they give her for stealing Hinata away is the same reason that their friends like Shikamaru and Temari give her for not telling her the truth when they'd figured it out.

"We wanted you to have your happy ending," Temari says. Her blue eyes soften. "You were never good at fighting for what you wanted. You'd have been trapped in a marriage with Toneri, a marriage where neither you or Toneri would have been happy in. But when you were with Naruto, you were so, so happy. We wanted you to be happy again. Even if this way broke a few hearts, at least you and Naruto would have been happy."

"No," Hanako says. Temari draws back, blinking. "Sakura and Ino took Hinata away and left me behind. I don't remember who Naruto is, who Naruto was to Hinata. I don't have those memories where Hinata first met Naruto, where Hinata was saved by Naruto and thought that she could love him forever. I'm just _me_. I'll remember him as the man that Sakura took my life away for and while I _like_ him, I'll never be able to love him. And I don't think he'll ever love me, not when he loves Hinata as much as he thought he should have."

All her friends look at her, hurt. They've just seen two of their friends taken away and now have heard that everything Sakura and Ino had done was all for nothing, that Hinata Hyuga doesn't love Naruto Uzumaki. But, Hanako thinks, it hurts so much because it's true.

Hanako is led to understand that most people in her situation would move away from everything and everyone that was part of their past lives. But Hanako likes the few friends that she's made and goes to stay with the Hyuga in the clan lands. She talks with Hanabi and Neji and meets Hinata's old caretakers and childhood playmates. She falls in love with Akamaru and gives Toneri her blessing when he introduces her to his girlfriend. It's ironic that this is the life that Hinata Hyuga ran away from, once upon a time, but Hanako finds that now that the expectations and responsibilities of being Hyuga heiress are on Hanabi, it's far less terrifying than Hinata had found it to be.

As time passes, Hanako finds marked differences between Hinata and Hanako. Hanako never grew up in a stilted society with judging condescendment. She's told she's far more confident and brazen than Hinata, and far less innocent and trusting of the world. No one feels the need to coddle and protect Hanako like they did with Hinata mainly because Hanako doesn't need to be. She likes the feeling of being loved when Neji and Hanabi speak up for her during clan meetings, but Hanako can protect herself, and frankly, no one wants a repeat of the disaster that happened the last time Hinata's friends tried to protect her.

"You loved Hinata too much," Hanako tells Sakura. "And so you tried to do everything for her. Maybe Hinata was weak, maybe she _did_ need to be cocooned and kept away from everything wrong with the world. But Sakura, if you'd kept on sheltering Hinata, she'd only have been hurt even more when she was allowed to grow up. Hinata had made her decision when she broke up with Naruto and she didn't need you to change it for her. She wasn't a child, Sakura. She knew what she was doing and she needed to face the consequences herself. "

"I just wanted you and Naruto to be happy," Sakura says brokenly. Hanako's heart clenches because in the end, Sakura is still the first friend Hanako made, still the person who risked everything to save Hinata from a loveless marriage.

"Hinata was already happy," Hanako says. "Maybe she didn't end up with Naruto, but she was still happy and she would have been even if she'd married Toneri. Naruto wasn't the only person she loved."

"Are you happy now?" Sakura asks with a small voice. There's a hopeful gleam in her eyes, as though everything would be justified if Hanako is happy.

"Yes," Hanako says. She smiles at Sakura. "I'm happy now."

* * *

"Toneri proposed just now," Hinata says. She's in a taxi, on the way back home. She'll see Sakura in less than ten minutes, but there's something so _wrong_ with everything and she wants to hear Sakura's soothing voice. "I… I said yes, but I don't know what to do."

"Oh, _Hinata_," Sakura sighs into the phone. "I'm so, so sorry."

"It's just…" Hinata bites her lip and knows she's close to tears. Her voice is terrifyingly high and hysterical and the taxi driver is shooting her concerned glances through the mirror. "I'd hoped that we could figure it out before the deadline and I always knew it was coming, but I-I… _Naruto_… I'm not sure if I can do this anymore, I'm not sure if I can make Toneri love me when he loves Hitomi so, so much and I love Naruto more than anything, and _Sakura_, what should I do?"

"Shhh," Sakura says. "Don't fret about it. Where are you? Are you on your way home?"

"I'm in a taxi," Hinata says.

"Okay," Sakura says. "Ino's coming over right now."

"But I don't want to bother her!" Hinata wails. "She'll b-"

"Don't be silly, it won't bother her. She wants to come," Sakura tells Hinata, and something in Hinata thinks that with friends like these, friends who have always been by her side, she'll get through this. "Don't worry, Hinata. We'll make it right again."

* * *

Inspired, a little, by a collection of sci-fi movies that almost always seem to have a startling amount of romance included whenever someone loses their memory.


	2. Clans

It was kind of obvious, at the end.

He met her in a bar, a place where none of their friends would go, where none of their friends ever thought they'd go. But they went anyway, for reasons still beyond their peers, and they met. They talked, they laughed, they danced and then they fell in love. It was all very quick, all very odd for the two normally conservative and emotionally constipated people. Everyone could hardly believe that the two would fall for each other, so soon, so quickly, and in such a place. But they did.

The official story is this:

When she first sees him, she thinks that he's the most handsome man she's ever seen (and she's seen her fair share of them, she's quick to add). He's a model, athlete, academic and entrepreneur all rolled into one sarcastic and eloquent package of beauty and grace. She falls for him; fast and hard. That's only natural, after all. But what's not natural is he falls right with her.

When he first sees her, the dimly lit bar brightens up into sparkles and rainbows and sunshine. Her eyes are as glistening as diamonds, her teeth pearls, her lips ruby red and her hair sapphire blue. She walks with the grace of a ghost and smiles with the sweetness of honey. Her voice is nothing but molten gold and her tongue is liquid silver. By the time he has finished describing her, there are no precious gems that he has not used to compare her with. He falls for her; fast and hard.

It's all very fairy-tale-like and their friends coo and their families give nods of stifled approval. Shisui gives them suggestive grins and ludicrous winks while Neji coughs something that sounds suspiciously like _I'm happy for you_ in the background.

The story that Hinata keeps from her family and friends and holds close to her heart is this:

When she first sees him in the bar, she makes a beeline for the other side of the room. She eventually has to migrate to his table; she's kicked out of her seat when she goes to the bathroom and the one beside him is the only free one left. She asks if she can sit beside him; he says as you wish.

They sit in silence; awkward in their reputations preceding them, awkward in the fact that they're both in this dingy place so that they can drink their sorrows away without anyone recognising them. But alcohol loosens the tongue and inhabitations, and deep into the night and early into the morning, they pour out their woes as easily as they pour the sake for each other.

"I've never seen either of you drunk before," Naruto says loudly, a sort of leer on his face. "What're you guys like?"

Itachi smiles, long and slow. "You wouldn't even notice that we'd consumed any amount of alcohol," he says.

(and isn't that true)

* * *

They get a flat in the middle of the city. It's close to the city labs, closer to the Satsuka Systems LTD building. The flat is full of impersonally modern furniture, all bought new and nothing like Itachi and Hinata's archaic tastes. On top of that, there's a sparkling new kitchen with marble countertops for her, and a study bigger than their bedroom for him. He fills his study with valuable information in so many languages that he loses count; she fills her kitchen with knives and skillets.

When everyone comes to visit, they stare in awe at the price tag of the apartment and the sheer elegance of it. Only the latest technology and the best of the best have made it into the flat. Naruto and Kiba make a beeline for the needlessly huge flat screen, while Ino nods with approval at the walk-in-wardrobe that is bigger than most homes' bedrooms. The views of the city lights are to die for, the park nearby is full of cute little kids toddling about, and the cafes, restaurants and shopping malls all scream expensive and _class_.

It's a beautiful flat. It's a pity that neither of them are ever there to live in it.

"Okay, what's your excuse?" innocent bystander Naruto Namikaze asks. "I mean, you guys literally have your workplaces a five minutes' walk away." Hinata smiles softly at her naïve friend.

"I work in a lab," Hinata says. "My hours are quite long and the decontamination process takes a greater amount of time than you might think."

"And you?" Naruto demands, turning to Itachi with fierce, sky-blue eyes. Hinata watches on with heavy lidded eyes as her childhood friend interrogates her husband. There's a small smile on her face - affectionate, admiring. Amused.

"I am a computer analyst," Itachi says, dulcet tones low and smooth. "I'm afraid that this is also a time-consuming job."

Naruto shoots them both dirty looks. But the romantic boy can't fault the hard working couple and he leaves with clear disapproval. _You should quit your jobs for each other_, the clear message is. _It's not like you need the money_. Life is short; time should be spent with loved ones, not loved professions.

It's just that Naruto doesn't know that they spend more time commuting than working. It's really the fault of the flat.

* * *

"We should get a dog," Hinata says contemplatively so late in the night that it's almost early in the morning. "Just so this place is lived in." Sitting on the sofa beside her, Itachi snorts.

"It would die," he says, honest and cutting. Hinata sends him a frown and reconsiders.

"A fish, then," she says. "We can get two so they won't be lonely. They have self-feeding things in the pet shop. I'll get it tomorrow."

"Small ones," Itachi warns. "I won't be able to go with you. I have a business trip till June tomorrow."

"I won't be here in June," Hinata says. "I'll be gone from May till August. Or so."

Itachi nods easily. The fact that they won't see each other for more than six months is nothing to them. "Okay," he says.

"Okay," she says.

* * *

When Itachi flies back to Konoha, he catches the bus home with his backpack and suntan. He arrives home to an empty house, dust, and two green fish swimming in a glowing tank. He fishes a key out of his black suit and unlocks the study. He enters and locks the door behind him.

When Hinata flies back to Konoha, she catches a taxi home with pale skin accentuated by a black leather handbag. She arrives home and makes dinner for herself. Itachi doesn't come out from his study to greet her. Hinata doesn't leave her kitchen to tell him she's there to be greeted.

* * *

It's really quite unfortunate that Neji visits on the same day as Shisui does. The visitors of the couple eye each other with clear caution, then turn to Itachi and Hinata for an explanation, as though they didn't each self-invite themselves over in the first place.

"Shisui, we'll go to my study," Itachi says shortly. He leads Shisui there, closing the door securely behind them then bolting it. Shisui raises an eyebrow. Itachi is unrepentant from his seat as his desk.

"You've got lots of books," Shisui comments, eyeing the large tomes and slim handbooks. "You must have all the information."

"Nearly," Itachi says. He pauses, eyes flickering carefully around the study, and then swivels to shut the curtains behind him. A MacBook is produced and switched on. "Nearly."

Shisui materialises by his side, bends down to see the folders on the laptop. To the eye of the oblivious, it could be the laptop of a stalker. There a folders dedicated to photos upon photos, receipts, documents, video and sound recordings and even the odd scan of the newspaper clipping. He pushes Itachi aside to jam a flash drive in and open a video. It's a dark, grimy recording.

"Machiko Hyuga," a voice announces. "Prisoner 984."

The video goes on to play his interrogation of the elderly Hyuga woman. Ensuring the sound is at an appropriate level so Itachi's wife and Neji can't hear, they watch it. It's the same questions as always; who are you; where did you come from; how did you escape the purging; where is the rest of your clan; if you tell us the location of any of the other clans, we'll give you a quick death. It's the same answers as always, at least coming from a Hyuga. The white haired, white eyed woman is clearly unintimidated but she says not a word. The interrogator eventually gives up and leaves the room after the mutinous silence drags.

She'll be killed, Itachi thinks dispassionately and turns away.

"Wait," Shisui cautions and Itachi turns back, raises an eyebrow. Machiko's head is bowed, waiting for her imminent fate. But the cell door suddenly slams open and in strolls in the Minato Namikaze himself, second in power only to Orochimaru.

Itachi knows him well. He's the father of Naruto Namikaze, and Itachi's been acquainted with him several times. Each of these times, he's found the man to be well mannered, eloquent and kind. Loving. But in these videos and to those who had run during the Purging, he's cold hearted, callous and merciless. Murderous, almost.

He sits down before Machiko. The woman is old enough to remember his name and face branded across each piece of propaganda. His mild words don't fool the Hyuga woman, and she sits with narrowed, clear eyes. Finally, the meaning of the visit becomes clear.

"You're the first Hyuga we've caught in a very long time, Machiko Hyuga," Minato says, voice soft and terrifyingly calm. "If our records are correct, we only need to find three more Hyuga in order for your clan to be Purged from this world."

Machiko doesn't say a thing, and Minato leans forward. "I'd like to help you, Machiko," he says winningly. "But I only can if you help me. If you would tell me where the last three Hyuga are, I can guarantee you good treatment and a fair judgement in the trials."

"There is only one judgement in the trials," Machiko spits and Minato shrugs, doesn't even try to deny it.

"A kind death, then."

"I would never betray the trust of my clan," Machiko says, and she _smiles_. It's truly terrifying. Itachi's never seen or _heard of_ a Hyuga smiling, and it's strangely unsettling. Almost mad. Crazy. "Not for death, Minato Namikaze."

"Not for death?" Minato asks, raising an eyebrow. He turns to his right and a screen appears. It's a torture chamber. A man much younger than Machiko is screaming, mouth gaping wide, eyes staring straight ahead aimlessly. "That can be arranged, as it was for Tsubaki Kurama."

Machiko stares at Minato, perhaps disbelievingly. Her eyes flicker to the man; his fingers and hands mangled, his intestines slopping around and a large variety of spices, salt and knives arrayed beside the masked and gloved woman. Then for the first time, the staunch Hyuga woman shows weakness. A hint of fear, a dash of vulnerability. She's old, Itachi thinks mildly. She doesn't have the strength of her youth anymore. "I know not where they are," she says, and perhaps her voice quivers a little.

"That's fine," Minato says with a smile, his voice smoothly switching back to his reasonable persona. "You only need to tell me their names and ages and I will be sure to tell the judge of your great help. Do you know what they look like? Where they might be inclined to reside? Allies? Friends? I understand that the Hyuga were allied to the Aburame and Inuzuka before the Purge. The two clans are still very much running rampant. Would the three Hyuga in question be amongst them?"

Machiko hesitates. From his place by the MacBook screen, Itachi narrows his eyes.

"I don't know who else you've captured," Machiko finally says weakly. "If I may have the list of the others in my clan who...?"

Minato smiles benevolently. "Of course, Machiko." He waves a hand and a young man steps in. His face is hard, gaunt. He spares no pity for the old woman and gives Minato some papers with a click of the heels and a short salute. He leaves the way he came and closes the door firmly behind him. The papers are pushed towards Machiko, and the woman's hands are shaking so much that she doesn't pick up the papers, just leaves them on the table to read.

Machiko is very much a Hyuga. For all her shaking hands and increasingly terrified posture, her eyes and face do no betray her as she reads the names of her kin who have been captured and killed before her. It takes her a while. Itachi does not blame her. The list of the Hyuga-born was incomplete after the Purging. Only numbers were able to be gleaned from the census taken the year before, and after taking away the numbers of Hyuga corpses, the list of the escaped stood at 59. Machiko will have to go through all the names of the other 55 captured and killed and attempt to figure out who had previously escaped and who was not on the list.

"Was... Shigure Hyuga found?" Machiko asks. Her voice is not timid, but there's a hint of fear in it that makes her seem weak. _Old_.

"I believe so, Machiko," Minato says, consulting papers of his own. "Some of the Hyuga were captured in the later years were able to identify the corpses from the Purging. Of course, your clan is very stubborn and those even under torture have been known to give us false information and identities. I should hope you won't do the same."

"Oh," Machiko says simply. Minato smiles, seemingly kind.

"I-"

"I'll fast forward it," Shisui mutters. "There's nothing important here." But he skips more than 20 minutes, and Itachi thinks it's a testament to Minato's patience and the woman's nerves that it lasted that long.

The video starts again with Machiko's eyes wide and Minato leaning forwards once more. She's come to a conclusion, then, and Itachi can tell that she's loathe to say it.

"I..." she says. "It's..." She pauses. Looks at Minato. He smiles, and turns the volume up of the man's screaming just a little louder. "Lord Hyuga's nephew," she says. She bites her lip, licks it. "His name... escapes me."

"Are you sure, Machiko Hyuga? Perhaps we can help you to remember."

"I am sure," Machiko says firmly. She narrows her eyes, and then suddenly, the enormity of what she's just done hits her. She pushes the papers away and she sit thin lipped, refusing to say a word.

Shisui closes the screen.

"Three Hyuga," Shisui announces. "From the interrogations and the tortures, we've come to the conclusion that a girl, her cousin and her childhood guard are still on the loose. Names were not able to be gleaned, but the girl, at least, is high profile enough to be known by the likes of the Aburame and Inuzuka. Some of them have been recently captured, and they'll be interrogated for the names. Our orders are to find these three Hyuga. We'll get more information as it comes, but it's increasingly clear that the Hyuga male that you've been tracking will lead us to Hiashi Hyuga's daughter."

Itachi frowns, careful and clinical. "I was under the impression that Hiashi Hyuga only had one daughter. Hanabi Hyuga?"

"He had two," Shisui says firmly. "She's older. A well-kept secret, to be sure. But what's important is that three Hyuga are still on the loose, and they aren't the older, blundering fools we thought were left. They are _young_, and they could very well breed a new generation of Hyuga. The government's getting worried about a rebellion on their hands. We're to find the three Hyuga as soon as possible, and with your information, I've been told that you'll be leading the search."

Itachi turns to the MacBook, clicks open a file on his laptop. There's a shortcut to it on his desktop, reserved exactly for situations like these. "I've been tracking this man for the past few months," he says. "I'm not certain, but there is a high chance that he's a Hyuga."

"Better safe than sorry," Shisui says, copying the file and nodding when Itachi pushes an address and phone number towards him. "Call him and arrange a meeting. I'll bring the backup, you bring the man."

"Shouldn't we wait to see if he can lead us to Hiashi's daughter?"

Shisui shakes his head. "We'll confirm his identity, then use a hostage method," the older man decides. "Desperate people will make foolish decisions. If we're lucky, we'll be able to bring in all three at once and be done with this clan."

"Very we-"

A loud knock at the door. Itachi and Shisui simultaneously look at it, and Itachi sighs. It must be Neji. Hinata knows never to disturb him while he's in his study. Shisui goes to unlock the door and swings it open to reveal Neji. The male smiles. It is familiar.

"Apologies for disturbing," Neji says unapologetically. "Hinata has made lunch."

* * *

"I'll be going on a business trip tonight," Itachi announces the breakfast he is to bring in a Hyuga. "I don't know when I'll return."

Hinata doesn't say a word for a moment. Then she tilts her head, puts her spoon down. "I see," she says. Her voice is level, but there's something solemn in it that's new. Strange. Hinata's never questioned Itachi's 'business trips' any more than he's questioned her 'science conferences'. He waits for the outburst and is rewarded some seconds later.

"Itachi," she says, her voice high and frazzled. "Just..." she sighs and shakes her head. "Just stay safe."

"I'm hardly going to be threatening our prospect business partners with guns," Itachi drawls. "There's no reason for me to be injured."

"That's not what I meant," Hinata says quietly. She looks at Itachi, her dark brown eyes searching for something in his face. "But that too, I suppose."

* * *

The drill is simple and well memorised. They'll take the man, let it slip that they have him, and the orphaned young woman and man that he's always with will come to rescue him. From their ages, everyone's certain that these are the Hyuga they are after. Their personalities don't quite match the typical Hyuga demeanours, but the trio have had nearly a decade to adapt to the modern world.

"I'm telling you," the man yells when they capture him and drag him to the most suspicious warehouse they can find, "this is all a mistake!"

"I'm telling you," Shisui snaps, "this is not."

And so it continues. It's a smooth process, and before long, they have all three suspects in their hands. There's a quick interrogation, and it soon becomes obvious that while only the older man is an actual Hyuga, the younger male and female know more than they should. The three are taken away by Shisui's men and Shisui pulls Itachi back.

"Wait," he says. He takes Itachi's shoulder with a heavy hand and doesn't let go until his men have well and truly left. It's only them two in the abandoned warehouse. "There's been rumours."

"Of what nature?"

"_Uchiha_," Shisui says, and that's really more than enough for Itachi to freeze. "They say that the underground Uchiha have enough forces to rebel against Orochimaru's government. Be careful. You don't want to be seen on the wrong side."

Itachi smiles, grim and humourless. "Which is the right side?"

* * *

When he returns back to the apartment, he finds Hinata sitting on a couch; alert and uncomfortable in her rigid posture. He raises an eyebrow, and Hinata bites her lip. Her face is pale and her hands her clenched to her skirt. Itachi supposes that as her legal husband, he has some sort of a moral duty to ask her if she's all right. He does.

"I'm fine," Hinata bites out, her voice informing Itachi that she's clearly not. But Itachi's done his duty and he has no wish to pry into Hinata's business. Besides, a small voice at the back of his mind reminds him he knows exactly what's wrong with his estranged wife who still believes in fairytales and happy endings.

"Very well, then," Itachi says. Hinata turns back to staring blankly at the wall and Itachi sighs. "Perhaps you might sleep, Hinata. It is late and you have an early morning tomorrow."

"I've taken leave," Hinata informs him shortly. At his questioning silence, Hinata makes something of a huffing noise and she turns to Itachi. "Your friends came by yesterday. A Dediara and someone else. They asked after you."

Itachi freezes. His mind is blessedly blank and there's so much shock and horror running through him that he doesn't know what to say. "And?" he asks carefully.

"I told them you were gone," Hinata says. She tilts her head. It's almost endearing. Childish.

"Is that all they asked?" Itachi's mind is slowly slugging back to life. It's important, _imperative_ that he knows what the Akatsuki were here for. Does Hinata know of his old allies, of his new contacts? Do the Akatsuki know the game he's playing? Do they think Hinata's important? She's not important, oh _Kami_, he hopes they know she's the least important thing in the flat after the fish. But she's useful, she's something of an asset - like cheese or wine that grows in value and age. He might not know too much about her, but she provides a network and a sort of cover for his shady dealings. Itachi's got a _wife_, they say. She's a scientist, a sensible girl. He must be good _somewhere deep down_ if she'd marry him.

"They wanted to go into your study," Hinata says. She smiles, perhaps sensing the urgency in Itachi's face. "I said no."

"_Good_," Itachi says. His voice comes out more forceful than calm, but he cannot be bothered to correct his tone. "If they ever come again, if anyone like them ever comes again, deny them entry into the apartment. They are dangerous. Not to be trusted. At all, Hinata."

"I know," Hinata says. Her voice is strange, he notes at the back of his mind. Oddly light, almost detached. "I knew when they tried to kill me."

Itachi pauses. Freezes for the second time. "Excuse me?"

"A Kisame came by just at the right time and frightened them away," Hinata continues, and the too-detached, too-uncaring woman could be talking about the weather for all she appears to care. "You never told me you had a brother, Itachi."

"I-"

"It's all right," Hinata says, standing up. She smiles. "We married each other to keep our secrets, not to steal each other's."

* * *

The next day, Sasori and one of his puppets come.

It's getting serious, Itachi thinks. He can hear their voices from his study as Hinata opens the door. For a moment, he considers getting up and walking to Hinata's side. What for? He's not sure. Hinata's in the middle of assuring the men that Itachi's still out. If he appears, he'll prove her a liar. Then what? He tilts his head, considers. Listens. He never knew Hinata was such an accomplished liar. She likes to present herself as a timid, introverted girl to others, but with Itachi, she's a confident and detached woman. Never a liar. Or so, Itachi thinks, he's led to believe.

Perhaps he should revise his information about this wife of his. Perhaps she's not as innocent as he thinks.

"I'm really quite sorry," Hinata's says. "If you'd give me your numbers, I'll make sure he calls you once he gets back."

Where on earth did most-expensive-boarding-school-in-the-country Hinata learn to lie? He's always thought of her as the overly protected, overly coddled sort. There's a hint of rebellion in her, like the spoilt teenager with loving parents, but that's no excuse for Hinata's Oscar-worthy tones and lines.

Perhaps this is an English essay. Are people inherently liars? Is Hinata The-Definition-of-Innocent a born liar?

"They're gone. You can come out now."

Itachi slides out of his desk and opens the study door. Hinata looks at him, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Are you in trouble, Itachi?" she asks simply.

_Oh_. She thinks he's in debt or something. How cute. "No," Itachi says.

"Okay," Hinata says, and she turns to her kitchen and Itachi closes the study door.

* * *

_His name is Ko Hyuga_, the encrypted email from Shisui reads. _His role in the Hyuga Clan was Hiashi's firstborn's protector. This role has allegedly been shifted down to her cousin. We're in the process of extracting names. TenTen and Lee have been released from custody. They aren't Hyuga - their eyes and genetics prove it. But Namikaze wants you to watch them, to see who they go to. We think they might know the cousin or the girl.  
_  
_They should not be underestimated_, Itachi types back. _As children they escaped the Purging, and have evaded us for more than ten years. _

_We've got training_, Shisui replies.

Itachi narrows his eyes. He looks at an old manila file to his right. It's accusingly empty; there's barely ten sheets of paper in there despite living on his desk for more than three years. He opens it and takes the photo on top. It's a rare one, snatched from the ruins of the Hyuga Compound before any of Orochimaru's officials laid their hands on it. There are four people posed in the photograph. He knows two somewhat well. "A girl and her cousin," he says, and looks at his study door grimly.

* * *

It's arranged the next day for Itachi to meet Ko Hyuga. He's not quite sure why he requested the meeting, but he did and it's almost instantly approved. Namikaze always liked Itachi. Itachi bitterly thinks perhaps it was best if he'd never met Namikaze, if he'd never met Sarutobi.

"He's dangerous," Sakura Haruno says. She's another of Hinata's friends. Itachi blithely wonders how well connected his wife is, wonders if this is just a coincidence or if Hinata has been picking her friends carefully. "He's been known to kill. He may be restrained, but don't take him lightly. I-"

She opens the door to the holding cell, but there's someone else there with Ko. It's Hinata. Itachi blinks at the sight of his wife. She looks back, face gaunt and pale in the artificial light. For a split second, Itachi's heart is in his mouth. Have the years gone to waste? Has he been found out? Has Hinata been- "Hinata?" Sakura asks and Hinata bites her lip.

"I'll take over," Hinata says. Itachi blinks again, and remembers that prisoners are normally restrained. Hinata stands free, even if defensively. It is telling She fumbles for ID, but Sakura shakes her head.

"I know who you are," Sakura says with a smile. "You two can explain yourselves to each other. There'll be guards listening in. If you need anything or if you're threatened, they'll come immediately."

She closes the cell door, and Itachi pretends not to wince when he hears that he's been locked in with his wife and the Hyuga. Then, of course, Hinata... _Hinata_. He feels the urge to bury his head in his hands and hide from the mess he's going to have to navigate.

There's a knife in his boot, and it's well known that Itachi is somehow linked to Minato Namikaze. A word from him to kill his wife would not be questioned.

"I'm an interrogator," Hinata says. "I..." she waves her hands, gestures to the tools behind her. Torturer, then. Perhaps she was the woman torturing Kurama in the video of Machiko Hyuga. _Interesting_. Itachi feels his lips curl up. _Smart_.

"I'm an information gatherer of sorts," Itachi says. Hinata and Itachi eye each other and nod.

* * *

"I'm not an interrogator," Itachi begins blithely. "I'm really only here for my own ego."

Ko looks at him blankly.

"You got caught easily," Itachi says. "For a man who has been on the run for more than a decade and who has successfully kept two children from suspicion, that's incredibly suspicious."

"You got lucky," Ko offers. "I was complacent. Take your pick."

"I don't think so," Itachi says. "Your carelessness was nothing short of sheer stupidity. If this is the sort of behaviour that you're inclined towards, you and your charges would have been killed many years ago."

"That's another question that I have," Ko says. "Why are all the Hyuga alive?"

Itachi blinks. _What_? But he's trained himself not to reveal information, especially when he's not the information gatherer. Torturer Hinata is similarly trained, it seems, and she steps forward with a carefully blank face.

"You'll note," she says, her words cool and crisp, "that there is a distinct difference between living and being alive. They are still kept alive for any information that they might hold. Once the last two Hyuga have been apprehended, it's likely that they'll be executed."

Itachi shoots Hinata a stern look. That's surely giving away too much information - Hyuga or otherwise. He turns back to Ko, whose eyes are now narrowed and calculating. They're similar to Neji's, and Itachi wagers if he could get close enough to Hinata's 'best friend', Neji would have the same white eyes hidden underneath the blue lenses. For some reason, that fact is not as devastating as it should be. That fact isn't new either.

"Ko Hyuga," he says. "For someone who revealed a substantial amount of information at the threat of Tenten and Lee's torture, you're surprisingly callous."

"They've been with me for a long time."

"You used them for a long time," Itachi says. He flickers his eyes towards Hinata when he hears her soft, sharp intake of breath. _Ach_. She's a walking contradiction. She's had years to run, but she's only gravitated closer to Orochimaru's Purging centre. She's had years to refine her skills but Itachi _knows_ Hinata. He might not know all her secrets, might not know all she's thinking, but her emotions have always been too easy for Itachi to read. Ko did her a favour by distancing himself, but Hinata doesn't have any survival skills apart from blending in and flirting with danger.

"In any case," he says, rising from his seat. "I've heard enough. My decision is made, sir."

"What decision?" Hinata asks, her voice suspiciously high even as the door opens and Orochimaru and Minato Namikaze walk in. Itachi pays her no attention and nods at the leader of the government and Naruto's father.

"Itachi," Orochimaru hisses, his smile up and sinister. "What conclusion did you come to?"

"Torture him or kill him as you please. We have been too lenient on the Hyuga if we let them survive. Perhaps a little violence is necessary," Itachi says and doesn't look Hinata's way. "The last two Hyuga will come if word gets out. I am certain of this. We can lay a trap easily."

"Hiashi's eldest would be around Naruto's age," Orochimaru says. "Fighting age. Is that the best idea, Itachi?"

Itachi frowns. Minato had always liked Itachi, but Orochimaru never has. Itachi has beaten Orochimaru too many times, and Orochimaru has always been the jealous sort. Look at what he did to the bloodlines. "I've found the targets," Itachi says. "Both of them have had little contact with this one over the years. Their skill will not be Hyuga based and therefore will be easy to apprehend."

"You've found them? Where?"

"They've been under the guard of a certain woman," Itachi says. He glances at Hinata, _Kurenai Yuhi_ at the tip of his tongue. "Her name is unknown, irrelevant. A homeless woman who didn't know the trouble she was taking in. They've been hiding in the darker areas of the city. I've got Shisui's men trailing them. They'll slip them word when I tell them, and I'm sure the remaining Hyuga will fall easily into our hands."

"Very well. I will trust you and Shisui to carry out this operation to success," Orochimaru says, a warning note in his voice. Itachi smiles.

"Of course," Itachi says. "We will not disappoint."

In the artificial light, Hinata hides in the shadows of her tools and looks like she's going to vomit.

(target found)

* * *

Itachi calls Shisui later that night. Hinata's out, says she's meeting Neji for dinner.

"I located the Hyuga cousins," Itachi says, barely bothering with a greeting. The lack of basic courtesy is out of character and Shisui knows it.

"Where were they?"

"The question should be when did I find them," Itachi says. He pauses. Considers. He trusts Shisui with his life. He has to. "But perhaps that's beside the point now. I thought I had a plan, but..."

"No plan can be perfect."

"This one had to be," Itachi shoots back. He closes his eyes. He considers dragging it out; spinning a tale and letting him be the victim in all of this so Shisui doesn't yell. "It's Hinata and Neji."

Shisui doesn't say a word for a moment. But he's breathing loudly - he has a bad habit of pressing his phone too close to his face. Itachi can hears the sharp intake of breath, the ragged breathing, the attempts for calm. The patterns tell Itachi everything, and he can hear the emotions whirring through his cousin's mind. "Okay," Shisui says. His voice is careful, as though he's not sure if Itachi's devastated or truly as apathetic as his voice is suggesting. "Okay. When did you find this out?"

"I confirmed it this morning. My wife is Orochimaru's chief torturer."

"That's... That's not what I'm asking," Shisui says. His voice is frazzled and Itachi frowns. Shisui's never been as cool and detached as Itachi is, but he's always been known for his calmness throughout every situation. But there's something unidentifiable in Shisui's voice and Itachi wonders if he should have called him at all. "When did you find this out?"

_The day I married her_, Itachi should say. But if he's truly being honest, if he really wants to tell the truth, the day his inkling became fact was the day he came across Hinata. Hinata Hyuga. He'd tracked down too many Hyuga to not know the signs of the highborn Byakugan wielders. "Consider my position in the clan, Shisui, and consider hers. I recognised her easily."

"You knew about her?"

"Our mothers were friends."

There is a quick pause. Shisui must be considering the weight of the words, but surely he knows Itachi well enough to know that he would sacrifice Hinata in a heartbeat if necessary, perceived familial duties be damned. "Did she recognise you?"

"No," Itachi says. He tilts his head. It's a bad habit of Hinata's. For some absurd reason, the irrelevant and false belief that married couples take up the mannerisms of their spouse comes to mind. "She was too young when we last saw each other. I doubt she remembers much of the Purging years, let alone those years before it."

"Good," Shisui says. His voice is now sharp. Itachi can hear and imagine him rifling through papers in his flat. "I'm going to ignore the fact that you've repeatedly lied to me over the years and ask you if there's anything else you'd like to report to me. I'm _trusting_ you, Itachi. Don't let it fall flat."

"The plan," Itachi says. His mouth goes dry and he licks his lips. Mikoto once told him that his mind was too, too brilliant which was why his plans always went wrong. He never knew how to take into account the simplistic nature of humans. The emotional side. "Hinata's friends are all clan born. Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, Aburame, Inuzuka, Kurama, and I'm sure there's Uzumaki."

"_Uzumaki_?"

"Yes," Itachi says and wonders if now would be a good time to accuse Namikaze's wife of being an Uzumaki. Considering he hasn't yet established Shisui's position, it's not the best idea. "I thought to take them all in at once." _And hope against all odds that an Uchiha would be amongst the number of Hinata's contacts_.

"You're Hinata's husband. They like you. Trust you. How is this plan failing?"

"It's not failing," Itachi says. The words are careful, each weighted. Shisui's going to take this one out of two ways. "I'm simply questioning the wisdom of the plan."

"Are they all dangerous? We can spread them out. Namikaze and Orochimaru will be sure to help."

"_Minato_," Itachi scoffs, then remembers that Shisui doesn't _know_. Shisui doesn't know enough. Itachi's never dared tell him the extension of the corruption. Shisui's an idealist, a dreamer and a doer all in one. He'd try to do something heroic and Itachi would get pulled along for the ride, and Sasuke would be left behind in the shadows of their memories. "No, no. They aren't dangerous. They're as weak as civilians, with the exception of perhaps one or two of the males."

"Itachi."

Shisui finally knows, then. Of course he does. Shisui's sharp, sharper than Itachi. He's also smarter, since he isn't in the mess that Itachi is. Oh, Shisui had warned him not to go into the field. You'll be compromised, Shisui had said. You knew these kids since they were born. Your peers and Sasuke's playmates. Shisui had been right. Itachi sees Sasuke in every one of the children Itachi's information brings in, sees Mikoto in every mother, Fugaku in every father.

"If I turn them all in, we'll be celebrated as heroes," Itachi says. "If our identities come out to the public, we'll not be punished. We'd have proven our loyalty. You and I would be safe."

"At the cost of Hinata's family."

"They're already dead."

"At the cost of your _wife_'s friends," Shisui says. He stresses the word as though Hinata should mean something. But there's a certain amount of curiosity in Shisui's voice and no disapproval. "Naruto will be devastated."

"Namikaze would be too," Itachi says. He snorts. There's a file hidden amongst his books detailing exactly how Kushina Namikaze is really Kushina Uzumaki and exactly how Minato Namikaze knew this and married her anyway. It's supposed to be a safeguard, if the fact that he and Shisui are Uchiha came out. There are many more little safeguards. The corruption of Orochimaru's government, the insidious experiments that Orochimaru and Kabuto perform, the fact that Naruto Namikaze's not quite as civilian as Minato might hope, that Minato's Hatake protégé is more clan born than civilian. And there's so much more information that Itachi's dug up over the years.

He could use this to save the Hyuga family. His wife's family.

But then there are so many others to consider. There's Tenten and Lee that Neji lived with in the orphanage, and their almost-father, Maito Gai. There's Hinata's foster family; Kurenai Yuhi, Kiba and Shino, and even the clan-seeped foster family of the dead Asuma Sarutobi. His saving of the Hyuga will be nothing short of explosive, and it'll be Neji and Hinata's adopted families that will take the fall. And what will happen when the true lineage of the likes of Asuma, Kiba and Shino come out? The Aburame, Inuzuka and Sarutobi clans will be dug up and then their links, and their links. Orochimaru's Purge will become complete and Itachi will be known as the Uchiha who betrayed his kind.

"Will you run?" Shisui asks.

"No," Itachi says flatly. There's no hesitation, no cause for even thinking about it. "I will not."

"Itachi, she's _here_. And... Sasuke's not."

"_No_," Itachi says. He considers his little brother and shakes his head. "_No_. If Hinata and Neji have survived this long, if their clan friends have survived this long, then they can survive longer. If not, then that is their problem. I have my own."

"She's your _wife_."

"I didn't marry her for love," Itachi hisses. He remembers, faintly, a girl he thought he'd marry and love and cherish forever. She was an Uchiha; a pretty little thing whose only faults were being too brave and too loving of Itachi. Hinata is not that girl. "I married her because... _Kami_, I don't know anymore. I thought that if she somehow knew every heir of every escaped clan, she'd know Sasuke too. But she doesn't. She's useless."

Shisui doesn't say a word, and somehow, that's more disapproving than Shisui's ever seemed.

"The two of you may have your secrets, but you could be great allies, Itachi," Shisui says. "The Hyuga Princess and the Uchiha Prince. You'll both have enough influence over what's left of the clan worlds to stage the rebellion that the rest of the Uchiha want."

"That's _exactly_ the kind of thing Orochimaru wants; a reason to eradicate those left from the Purging," Itachi snaps. "It'll only serve to fuel the fire further, and what if Sasuke's caught?"

"Find him first, then," Shisui says. "Stop mucking around in this government and get out there and find him. If you found the Hyuga Princess who isn't even supposed to exist without even trying, I'm sure you can find your brother."

"The Akatsuki came," Itachi says. "I'm out of time."

"_We're_ out of time," Shisui corrects. But Shisui doesn't _know_, can't even begin to comprehend half of it. He thinks he's a double agent; pretending to work for Orochimaru, but secretly on Itachi's dole. And one day, when all the clans have been Purged, Orochimaru will turn to Itachi and Shisui and personally pull the trigger. Three months ago, Itachi would have been counting on it.

Hinata has always mucked up his most carefully laid plans.

Shisui sighs. "You know what I think, regardless."

"Yes," Itachi says. He wants to say _my time is ending, death is calling_, but he cannot. Not to Shisui, not to Namikaze, not to his own wife. Instead, he bites down on the words. "We'll be all right."

* * *

Hinata comes back late in the night. Itachi waits up for her, and she shoots him an odd look. "Hello," she says. Her hands her clenched and there's a tightness around her eyes. She must have visited Neji, asked him what to do. Perhaps she'd met up with all her clan friends and hatched a plan to save her clan.

"I'd like to bring you to meet some people," Itachi says in reply. He stands up languidly and dangles the car keys in his hands. "They're old friends of mine."

"Now?"

"Yes," Itachi says. "I think you'll find them particularly helpful."

* * *

The Akatsuki is a criminal organization that Itachi joined towards the end of the Purging; after his parents were murdered before his eyes and Sasuke was carried away by Kami knew who to Kami knew where. It's composed entirely of some of the most notorious and powerful clan born in the world, and Itachi is sure that if there were so inclined, they could take down a significant portion of Orochimaru's government. But that's not their goal. Not yet.

"They gave me a limit of ten years to find my brother," Itachi says. "My decade will be up in December."

"Kisame?"

Itachi scoffs. "He's not my brother," he says, speeding past a red light. Hinata sends him a judging look. Itachi doesn't care. "My blood younger brother. I lost him during the Purging."

"How?"

Itachi glances at Hinata out of the corner of his eye. They're now speeding through the empty back alleys in the middle of the night, and the lighting isn't sufficient enough for Itachi to see what his wife is thinking. But there's a hint of knowingness, a sharpness in her tone that suggests that Hinata has survived for this long for a reason. "The government raided my neighbourhood," Itachi says. "I lost my brother during then."

"Ah," Hinata says. There's a pause. "What is his name?"

_Is_, Itachi wonders musingly, then remembers that Hinata's not the only daughter of Hiashi Hyuga. She's lost a sibling too. "Sasuke."

"_Sasuke_," Hinata repeats so wonderingly that Itachi reconsiders his initial belief that Hinata was too young to remember anyone. Her voice turns sharp, urgent. "Itachi, how much do you trust the Akatsuki?"

"What?"

"We both know that we both know that we're both clan born," Hinata snaps. She turns to Itachi, a bitter smile on her face. Itachi just looks blankly back. _No_, he didn't know Hinata knew he was clan born. He knew she had her suspicions about his secrets, bu- "I'm not sure about your clan, and I'm not sure if you know which clan I'm from. But I'm clan enough to know exactly who the Akatsuki are and what they do. Itachi, how much do you trust the Akatsuki? How much could you possibly trust the Akatsuki?"

"I _am_ the Akatsuki," Itachi drawls and Hinata flinches so visibly in the darkness that he feels a sort of pang in the heart. "Did you not hear me tell you that I am a member?"

"Oh," Hinata says in a small voice. "Itachi, why are you bringing me there?"

"Shisui wouldn't shut up about the fact that you're my wife, and apparently that means something," Itachi says, eyes back on the road. "The Akatsuki will likely help you free your family. Don't take this the wrong way. The Akatsuki have been after bloodlines like the Byakugan for years now, and by introducing you to the Akatsuki, I'm only playing for time to find Sasuke."

Hinata doesn't say a word.

"If y-"

"You don't need to do this," Hinata says, voice tight and oddly high. "My brothers can help me."

"Kiba _Inuzuka_ and Shino _Aburame_ have better things to worry about," Itachi says. "Orochimaru is sure that the hunting of the Hyuga is nearly over and he's moving on to the other clans. Your friends. If they're caught, their clans will likely be compromised. I heard that it was only the Hyuga who scattered and lost all contact."

There's a stiff silence at Itachi's words. "Why did you marry me, Itachi?"

Itachi nearly slams on his brakes. _What?!_ Does she want a declaration of love, about flowers and cliffs and rocks and whatever goes with those things? "Why do you think?"

"Tell me."

Itachi hisses. He was so sure that Hinata wouldn't be troublesome when he married her. "For the same reason you did," Itachi says archly.

"Self-benefit," Hinata says. But her voice is odd. Soft. There's _something_ in her voice that Itachi can't place. He shrugs it off.

"Of course," he says. He indicates a left turn, glances at Hinata along the way. She's biting her lips, her fists clenched in her lap. She's thinking hard, but Itachi can't tell what she's thinking about. For a moment, though, a tendril of doubt sneaks in. But Hinata loved, _loves_ Naruto Namikaze. It's like the one true fact of life. And he's seen the spark of intelligence, the subtle manipulations in her eyes. And, well, she's _Hyuga_. Surely that's reason enough th-

"What clan do you belong to?" Hinata asks. Itachi shoots her a wary look. She's his wife, he's helping her, but that absolutely does not mean that he trusts her with information like this. Just the fact that Hinata knows he's clan born worries him already. "It can hardly be any more incriminating than the Hyuga name in this time."

Itachi thinks. Considers.

Hinata's smart. There's no doubt about that. She's tricked and murdered her way to a leadership position in Orochimaru's government. She fooled Itachi into thinking his wife was gentle, almost docile. There's nothing to suggest that she's a cold blooded murderer or a highly skilled torturer, but then, there's nothing left to suggest that Hinata's _Hinata_. There's _nothing_ that's certain about Hinata anymore, and all the information that Itachi has compiled on his wife is compromised and must be revised.

He looks again at her white lips and hands. It's a test, he thinks. "Uchiha," he says. "I believe my position in the clan is similar to yours."

Hinata is silent for a while. He can see her considering, but then, is that an act? She turns to him. "That's awfully trusting of you, Itachi Uchiha."

Itachi smiles thinly as they arrive at a motorway. It'll be a long journey to the Akatsuki base. Perhaps another hour or so. "You may be a friend of Naruto Namikaze, but Hiruzen Sarutobi was my mentor and I have influence over the Commander of Orochimaru's Armed Forces. It's not a matter of trust."

Hinata nods. Her tight face has smoothed out into something unreadable, icy. Hyuga-like. "You are well connected."

"Akatsuki," Itachi says simply.

"What did you mean to gain from joining them?"

"Who said I meant to gain anything?"

"Is it to do with your brother? Sasuke?" Hinata presses on. "Your search for him being punctuated by the joining of a radical rebellion doesn't make much sense."

"It was good money," Itachi says. It's true, especially as a 13 year old boy without family or allies willing to stay by his side. He's lucky that Shisui found him and bargained for his temporary release when he was 16, otherwise he'd have never gotten out of the terrifying mess that is the Akatsuki.

But Hinata's face actually _falls_. There's a flicker of disappointment even though Itachi hadn't thought she was holding expectations of him. He's somehow failed her little test, and he wonders if it's to his disadvantage.

"Not all of us were as lucky as to have found a foster parent, Hinata Hyuga," Itachi says mildly. "Those of us who survived rarely had families to fall back on."

"You know about K-" Hinata cuts herself off. "My mother. You mentioned her before."

"Kurenai Yuhi? Yes. I know about Asuma Sarutobi too. I am Orochimaru's information gatherer," Itachi says.

"Why didn't you turn me in? You should have done it at the start, back when you first found out. When you first met me."

"I'm clan born."

"That's hardly an excuse. _Uchiha_."

Itachi raises an eyebrow, and Hinata stares defiantly back. What had the Hyuga taught their children Hinata could still remember the childish rivalries between the Hyuga and the Uchiha? "Remember why I married you, Hyuga. It was to my advantage that you were by my side than in the cells of Orochimaru."

"How so?"

Itachi sends Hinata a scathing look. Perhaps he was too quick to assume, perhaps he's overestimated her mind. Shisui's always said that Itachi's a step ahead of everyone else. Perhaps it's too much to think that Hinata's on the same level, Hyuga princess or not. "I'm looking for my brother," Itachi reminds Hinata. "He's your age. I hoped that with your clan networking, you might have come across him."

Hinata is thin lipped. "Why did you not go into the underground networks or rebellions then?"

It's like answering the questions of a child. "A place in the government allows me more access to information that I would not otherwise gain," Itachi says sharply. As he veers around the curve of the motorway, a light catches his eye. It's a black sedan. Government car. Hinata follows his eyes and looks confused at the grim look on his face. He offers the answer because Hinata can even open her mouth. "It's one of Orochimaru's men. It is possible that it's only a coincidence."

"Worst case scenario?"

"There're rumours that the Uchiha are rising up the underground clans," Itachi says, eyes still flickering from the road to the mirrors. "The likes of the Nara, Aburame and Ōtsutsuki are following them. A rebellion is feared."

Hinata looks shocked, eyes wide. "But Shino-"

"Has been estranged from the clans. Rankings before the Purging haven't all been maintained, and the younger generations have all been abandoned. His clan may remember him as their heir, but they follow the rule of the Uchiha now," Itachi says.

"Do they know you're Uchiha?"

"Not that I know of," Itachi says_. Lies_. "We'll know soon enough."

There's a moment of silence as Hinata seems to consider this. "You'll lead them straight to the Akatsuki."

Itachi wants to snort, ask if that it would really matter. The Akatsuki aren't entirely innocent, after all. Hidan and Kakuzu will most likely make sure he doesn't set foot on Akatsuki land. "Yes."

"Why are you bringing me to them?"

Ah, finally. _There's_ the one question Itachi was expecting from the start. He raises an eyebrow at Hinata and she actually flushes. Perhaps all those years of innocence weren't entirely an act. "I was distracted," Hinata says stubbornly. Like a child. Itachi hopes that Sasuke is nothing like her.

"You said that the Hyuga are alive," Itachi says. "Where?"

"In the HQ."

"Why?"

"Well," Hinata says and sends Itachi something of a shy smile, "Naruto somehow caught wind of the plan to execute them."

Smart, Itachi thinks. Minato's son is too moral for his own good and it's always far too easy to manipulate the boy. "I see."

"He visits them every week," Hinata continues on and Itachi does something of an internal fist pump because he_ knew_ Hinata wasn't over Naruto. He'll divorce Hinata once he's finished getting everything out of her that he needs. "He's kind to them."

"Of course."

Hinata shoots him a sharp glance and Itachi innocently is looking at the mirror exactly at that moment. "Why are you taking me to the Akatsuki?"

"What would you do to save your clan?"

"Anything."

"Exactly."

"But the Akatsuki aren't the best option!"

"They are your only option," Itachi snaps and Hinata's eyes are so, so wide. He thinks that if he reaches out with his fingertips, he could pull those lenses off and see Hinata for who she really is. For some reason, the thought of never having seen his wife's own eyes unnerves him.

"What about the underground clans?"

"They follow the Uchiha," Itachi says and eyes Hinata. "Why do you think the Hyuga are so easily caught?"

"Kiba and Shino-"

"Have their own lives to worry about," Itachi says. "And even with your ragged network of clan heirs, you are all entirely too young and have too little numbers to make any impact on the government."

"We have Naruto."

"Who loves his parents very much," Itachi says. Hinata looks unfazed and Itachi sighs loudly. "Minato Namikaze was my father's best friend during college, or so I was told. He came personally to execute my parents. I am lucky they lost all contact and had some very loyal cousins or he would have known to search for me and my brother and kill us too."

"But Naruto cares for the clans."

"He cares for people," Itachi says, and seeing Hinata's face, he softens his tone. "However, you must consider what his father does, Hinata."

"He saved our lives!" Hinata bursts out and Itachi raises an eyebrow. "Why do you think all the clan heirs of all the major clans are still alive and concentrated in one place?! It's because Naruto found us before his father or Orochimaru did and hid us away. It's the only reason why I'm even here!"

"There is an astounding difference between already-lost clan children and an entire Noble Clan going missing, Hinata Hyuga," Itachi snaps. He's irritated. He's used to being surrounded by Shisui's quick mind and a gentle, unassuming version of Hinata. This... This childishness, Itachi isn't used to. He can't handle this. Why is Hinata so determined to make Naruto a hero? Her hero? "If you would see Naruto Namikaze fight against his father, by all means, tell me to turn around."

Hinata doesn't say a word, and they travel in awkward, mutinous silence. They both know that if Naruto is told, he would go escapading on a quest to save the Hyuga. Of this, Itachi is sure. But Naruto dearly loves his family, and Itachi is equally sure that it will break Naruto's heart to go against his father's beliefs and wishes. And Hinata's heart would be broken along with Naruto's.

"What about Neji?" Hinata asks stiffly, perhaps 20 minutes into the silence.

"Shisui's with him. He'll make sure he's fine."

Hinata bites her lip, and Itachi simply wonders if she's regretting her decision to follow him, to trust him, to marry him.

* * *

They arrive at the Akatsuki Mansion about half an hour later. The government car turns out to simply be an ambitious ministry official working a late shift. Nonetheless, Itachi sees Deidara and Tobi sneaking out of the gates and hears a loud explosion minutes later as he sits with Hinata in the parlour.

The other members of the Akatsuki join them quickly after that, shooting a series of faces at Itachi, ranging from blank and apathetic to knowing and amused. Itachi just stares blandly back.

"So who's the cutie?"

Itachi levels a glare at Hidan, but neither Pein and Konan seem to disapprove or berate Hidan. Everyone else just leans forward, not bothering with the pretense that they aren't curious.

"My wife," Itachi drawls. Kisame winks outrageously at this, but Hidan gets into a coughing fit with a suspicious amount of profanities mixed in.

Pein calmly waits for the man to finish then frowns. "Why are you here?"

"I've a request."

"We've already humoured you enough with your brother, Itachi Uchiha," Pein says, his voice eerily flat. "You've had more time than the rest of the Akatsuki combined."

"I bring more connections," Itachi says archly, and considering he's their only link into Orochimaru's government and that the Akatsuki HQ has been moved into Konoha, it's not entirely a boast. "And even now I bring you more." He looks straight at Konan when he says this. He knows her heart will be swayed the most, and that she has the most influence over Pein. Konan just tilts her head, like Hinata does.

"And what is your name?"

"Hinata," Hinata says. She pauses, and this somehow makes the Akatsuki lean in more curiously. "Hyuga."

It's a profound statement, definitely. To admit to being one of the last two Hyuga free is as brave as Itachi strolling up to the Akatsuki and telling them that he was the Uchiha heir, knew exactly who Madara Uchiha is and saying he wanted in. The thing is, Itachi's on Hinata's side for now.

"Free her clan and family and ensure their long term safety and survival," Itachi says, "and I'll drop the search for Sasuke."

There's a stunned silence that greets these words. The Akastuki all know of his obsession with tracking down Sasuke, even newly recruited Deidara. He feels Hinata tugging at the sleeves of his coat, but he ignores her, eyes fixed on Konan. Her lips curl upwards.

"You've less than three weeks to find your little brother, Itachi," Konan says, voice smooth and melodious. "It seems to me it's to our advantage to let you continue with your little chase rather than to break into the vaults of the government for a damned clan."

"She's my wife," Itachi says, and grimaces something of a smile. "We come in a package."

Oh, this is _dangerous_. Itachi knew it would be the moment he told Hinata to get into the car. But it's the only way to save his wife's family short of commencing the tedious process of blackmailing the entirety of Orochimaru's government, and frankly, Itachi thinks this is the safer option too. And besides, Itachi thinks as he _hears_ the gears whirr in the heads of the Akatsuki members, there is a reason why Konan and Pein have always been too lenient on him.

"Does that mean you'll join the Akatsuki?" Kakuzu asks, leaning forwards, eyes calculating. He doesn't know that Hinata is the heiress, but it doesn't matter. As one of the last free Hyuga, technically, Hinata inherits all the money. And there is, if rumours are to be believed, a considerable sum. Itachi wonders, then decides it's for the best that Kakuzu doesn't know that the government seized all clan assets years and decades ago. The Hyuga bank accounts currently fund roadworks and maintenance around the city.

"U-"

"No," Itachi interjects. He sees the flash of relief in Hinata's face before it shifts back into the stony mask. "She'll have her clan to worry about."

"The Hyuga will be in your debt," Hinata adds. The Akatsuki nod solemnly, but Itachi knows they're interested. There is a reason why the Hyuga were first targeted during the Purging, after all.

"And you are certain that they still live?"

"I can give you their location, and," Hinata says, tilting her head, eyes assessing, "if your appearances are unknown to the government, I can get you into the Namikaze HQ."

"No questions asked," Itachi says. Oh, this is the incentive the Akatsuki have been waiting for. Access into Orochimaru's HQ is access to illegal goods and information that's unavailable outside. It's also a good platform to promote for more members (read: minions) and to expand the Akatsuki's connections and spy network, and finally begin whatever plans Pein's been plotting. But mostly, it could be the best heist of the century. Stealing a Noble Clan right under Orochimaru's nose? Minato Namikaze's nose? That's incentive enough.

The Akatsuki agree, and Hinata shakes on it.

* * *

"So you're giving up on Sasuke," is the first thing Hinata says once they're in the car and driving to Shisui's apartment.

Itachi sends her an irritated look. "'Giving up' is hardly the ter-"

"I'm no fool," Hinata says. She looks at him, bites her lip. "This deb-"

"Sasuke," Itachi says loudly so that Hinata can hear it and, well, so that he can hear it, "is safest without me. The moment I became involved with the Akatsuki, I knew I could never contact Sasuke without bringing danger to him."

"Then why..."

"I just wanted to know he was all right," Itachi says. He looks at the road wistfully. "Perhaps you would feel the same way about your sister if she had survived."

A pause.

"She survived."

Itachi jerks his head sharply towards Hinata. She looks unrepentant, but there's doubt in her face as though she's about to impart a big secret. Itachi wants to tell her _no_, please don't. He'll only betray her trust. "We all did," Hinata says. "Most of us, anyway. The Hyuga branches in the other countries took us in."

"The num-"

"Forged," Hinata says. "The Hyuga aren't blind. We were in the military and government then, we foresaw what was going to happen decades before the Purging. The mass migration to the other countries those years before Orochimaru even came to power was not a coincidence."

"But you stayed." Kami, even _Itachi_ wasn't born when Orochimaru began his rise to power at an exponential rate. It all begins to click together. Why the Hyuga only put up a token fight. Why they kept Hinata a secret, and called her a daughter of a cousin.

Hinata smiles wryly in the dim light of the moon. "Well," she says. "I am the firstborn. It's my duty to ensure that all my clan survives."

Itachi is quiet for a moment. He thinks that once again, he might have conjured the wrong image of his wife.

"And have they?"

"Most," Hinata says. There's a certain tone in her voice, and Itachi remembers the numbers that were calculated over and over again. 284 Hyuga before the Purging. 225 bodies after. Corpses. Including Hiashi Hyuga and his father.

"Perhaps," Hinata says carefully, "Sasuke survived too."

Itachi glances at his wife. Then he turns pointedly away and focuses on the road. They don't say a word after that.

* * *

They all meet the next day. TenTen, Lee, Kiba, Shino, Kurenai, Asuma... the list goes on. Shisui had dug up some of his old contacts who weren't too Uchiha to be willing to save the Hyuga, and Itachi's network of spies responded to his calls. Some of the Akatsuki come too, curious and amused. The clan-born of Hinata's generation don't know them by sight, but some like Kakashi Hatake and Might Gai are old enough to remember their faces. They bristle, then bristle more when they realise what kind of deal Hinata's made.

"Are you _sure_, Hinata?" Kurenai asks, worried as she frets over her adopted daughter. She sends a not very subtle look towards the corner where some of the Akatsuki are sulking.

"I trust my husband," Hinata says innocently and Itachi fights the urge to spit out his tea. Beside him, Shisui snorts.

"You've got a keeper," Shisui tells him, and Itachi can't detect the mocking tone that's meant to be there.

"Are all your contacts gathered?" Itachi asks his wife. Hinata looks around, then begins to nod until Ino interjects.

"Naruto's coming," she says.

Itachi frowns, and meets the eyes of his stricken wife. He hears, faintly, Hidan and Deidara laugh loudly. "I'll see him out," Itachi says smoothly, standing up. Hinata's eyes widen and she stands up with him, arms out to pull his sleeves and him back down.

"No, wa-" Hinata begins, then catches herself. "I... Just, if Naruto wants to come, then... We might have a better chance."

"Against _his parents_," Itachi intones and Hinata's arms swing limply at her side. It's a low blow. Both of them lost their parents during the Purging, and they've seen how Naruto feels about his family.

"It's his choice," Hinata says. There's an odd intonation to her voice, and she doesn't look up to meet his eyes. Itachi frowns and catches Kurenai giving Itachi a murderous glare. _I did not make her cry_, Itachi frowns back.

_You did_, Kurenai mouths back and Itachi narrows his eyes before sitting back down helplessly. Shisui gives him a judging look from his side.

"What?" Itachi snaps, and something of a smile curls upwards on Shisui's face.

"Nothing," he says, and he turns away to say something to one of his men. Itachi fights the urge to roll his eyes, to throw his hands up in the air. He's smart, there's no denying that, but there's only so much he can read off a person's face. He's not Hyuga, for Kami's sake!

Itachi and Hinata wait in near silence for Naruto to arrive. It doesn't take him long, and Itachi hears him already quarrelling with Sakura Haruno before he even sees him. There's a boy with raven, spiked hair and onyx eyes sulking behind them, and Itachi thinks that he looks so classically Uchiha that he shouldn't be allowed in public.

The three are greeted enthusiastically by Hinata's circles. Itachi's only mildly surprised when Shisui greets Sakura somewhat fondly, and even more so amused when Naruto learns who Itachi really is. Really 'is'.

"So you're not clan born, but you're still helping?" Naruto asks, something with incredulous astonishment etched across his face. It's remarkably amusing, considering Naruto and the rest of the world thinks that he's civilian too.

"And so are you," Itachi says with something of a shrug and Dediara and Hidan explode into hysterics in the background again. _Seriously_. Why didn't Pein and Konan send Sasori instead? But Kisame's face is growing darker, and Itachi thinks he can trust his partner to keep them in line. "You have more to lose. Why are you here, Naruto Namikaze?"

"They're my _friends_," Naruto says simply. "Hinata and everyone are all my friends, and the Hyuga are my friends too."

"And they are just your friends," Itachi says, tilting his head curiously, "Minato and Kushina Namikaze are your _parents_."

"I want to do the right thing," Naruto says with all that burning passion and impulsive defensiveness that should have burnt out when he was 20. "And doing the right thing doesn't include turning a blind eye! And don't decide that I can and can't do. I'm almost 28 years old!"

It's just that last statement that makes Itachi think _what a child_. He sees the same irritation and amusement reflected in the dark haired man behind Naruto and frowns. "Who's he?"

"One of our friends," Naruto says. He whips his head around to glance at said male, then turns back to Itachi. "He's clan. That's okay, right?"

"Which clan?" Itachi asks, although the male in front of him might as well be the personification of the portrait of Madara Uchiha that used to hang on the wall of his childhood home.

"We aren't really sure," Naruto says sheepishly and Itachi rolls his eyes.

"I'll bet on Uchiha," Itachi says, and he glances at Hinata, who's sitting serenely by his side. She's frowning. "Are you?"

"No," the male says, voice smooth and sardonic. "They'd have claimed me long ago."

Itachi blinks, but Shisui just goes the whole way and chokes on his tea. Claimed him?! What on earth is that supposed to mean?!

"I suppose you wouldn't understand," the male drawls on, and Itachi thinks, _you've got that right_. "The Uchiha is an underground clan, and they're setting themselves up for some kind of stupid rebellion. They need all the numbers they can get, and they've been claiming all the Uchiha brats they left behind during the Purging."

Itachi's honestly left gaping at the male's words. He's the _Uchiha heir_ and Shisui's their genius. If they wanted numbers, it'd be them two that the Uchiha came to first. He remembers the days before the Purging when the Uchiha decided that they would win against Orochimaru's government simply because they had the likes of Itachi and Shisui on their side.

"Well," Shisui says before Itachi can even try to make sense of what it's supposed to mean if the Uchiha, if his _family_, haven't come for him. "You must be well connected to know all that."

The male just snorts. "I have eyes and ears."

"When we found him, he was like the street king," Naruto says brightly, and the male glares at him. Itachi raises an eyebrow, then turns to Hinata, completely confused by the male's presence. She looks up and smiles, and if Itachi didn't know better, he'd have sworn his wife winked at Naruto.

"Can we trust him, Naruto?" she asks.

The careful politeness in her voice makes Itachi blink. He's never heard it before, but it's so controlled and precisely light that he wonders if Hinata's not an Oscar-worthy actress after all. "Of course," Naruto beams, "you said it'd be okay if I brought him along." His hand slips around Sakura's waist. Shisui, Itachi, and the male behind Naruto let out an aggravated sigh all at the same time. Itachi blinks in bemusement, before turning to his wife.

Hinata's face is still controlled, but he catches a flash of _something_, before she turns to him. But it is not love nor heartache in that flash, and Itachi is left floundering. She smiles that smile that she always does when they're around their friends and are trying to pretend that they do love each other. "I did," she says, something like teasing affection coating her voice as she takes Itachi's hand perhaps pointedly. "Will it be okay, husband?"

_He's most certainly not okay_, Itachi wants to say. What if he's one of the spies from the Uchiha? He remembers the sneaky elders well, remembers the ambition and the hatred in the eyes of his clan. They're foolish, foolish people, and he wouldn't put it past them to sabotage the rescue of the Hyuga just because of the blood hatred of days long past. But he swallows down his suspicion and nods. "What's your name?"

"Sasuke," the male says.

Itachi blinks. Hears Shisui suck in a breath and Hidan blurt out some wondering curse. He turns to Hinata for the third time, and she smiles gently. _Knowingly_. Damn her.

"Oh," Itachi says. "I'm Itachi."

"Good for you," Sasuke says, and Itachi just sighs.

* * *

The next week, Itachi reports to the HQ for work with Hinata. It's become common knowledge that Orochimaru's best interrogator and top information gatherer and analyst are a couple, and there were many chortles that the duo who work so well with information didn't know the true identity of the other.

"I've contracted an outside party," Itachi reports blithely to Namikaze. "They'll be responsible for sending out the information and therefore bringing in Hinata and Neji Hyuga."

"And our men can't do it themselves? An outside party is risky."

"They have links with the underground clans," Itachi says. "As I understand it, there are clans who are still remarkably close with the Hyuga. The heirs certainly are, at least. Perhaps we can catch more than two Hyuga with this."

Minato considers this, then nods. Something in his eyes soften. He knows about Sasuke, after all, and Itachi wonders if it was Namikaze who planted Sasuke in Naruto's circles. "All right," he says. "Be safe, Itachi Uchiha."

Itachi smiles.

* * *

("You're not going to tell him you're his brother, Itachi?"

"He'll just be a burden now.")

* * *

The breaking in is uneventful. With Shisui, Hinata, Itachi and Naruto at the front, no one dares to question them. The guards even hesitate when the bells ring and all the prisoners are freed.

Hinata's a little cat when she fights; all bristling claws and hisses. Neji's style is closer to the Jyuken that Itachi remembers, but Hinata's style is smarter for her lack of physical strength and impressive agility. Itachi watches in what might be curiousity, then surprise when the Hyuga cousins rip off their lenses and the white Byakugan appears.

It is as beautiful and terrifying as Itachi remembers. The Uchiha had always loathed the Hyuga, but Itachi thinks that it is secretly because of the beauty and elegance of their powers.

He considers his own. Itachi's always been something of a lone fighter. His powers and clan abilities have always been explosive at best and his sword work is too sweeping to not be sure to hurt any of his wife's allies. He sticks to a kunai he plucks from the ground, and Shisui just looks at him, bemused as they fight back to back.

"If you want to disappear," Shisui murmurs, "now is the time."

Itachi considers the situation. Naruto's truly been taking care of the prisoners, and some of them are fighting. He sees the Hyuga Byakugan, hears the whisper of shadows and thinks that this is how it was meant to be, this is what the clans should have done from the start.

But Orochimaru will arrive in less than one minute. If Itachi wants to run, if he wants to hide from betrayed eyes, he has to do it now. He catches the eye of Hinata Hyuga. She's fighting, feral and dangerous. Orochimaru really did breed the generation of vicious clan born that he feared.

"The question is," Shisui continues, "do you love her?"

Hinata sends hims a questioning look. With two fingers, she uses chakra to kill a man twice her size. Itachin wonders when she got the time to practice.

"Hinata was only ever an asse-," Itachi begins. But he falters, can't say it because nothing would ever justify blowing years and years of cover and killings for a disposable asset. Shisui sighs, shakes his head.

"Go," he says.

Itachi slips away from the fighting, Hinata's Byakugan on him the entire time.

* * *

Shisui finds him in the apartment. He tells him that Minato's been defeated by his son, Orochimaru is dead courtesy of Sasuke Uchiha himself, half of Orochimaru's government is missing or dead, that all the Hyuga and the prisoners escaped. As they speak, Shisui says, the Hyuga are making a beeline for the border where they'll hope to overtake some of the guards there and be reunited with Hanabi's side of the clan.

"Good for them," Itachi offers.

"Hinata's friends went with them," Shisui says. "Naruto, Sakura, Shino, Kurenai - the lot. Sasuke too."

"Okay."

"And you?"

Itachi sighs. The apartment is dusty, he thinks. There's a certain smell that's coming through. He'll have to open the windows. Shisui hisses his irritation.

"Minato's head of government now, and Konoha wants blood. Itachi, they're chasing after Sasuke, they're going to kill him. Where are you going? Akatsuki? The underground?" _Hinata?_

"I have fish to take care of," Itachi says, jerking his head over to the aquarium and Shisui looks at him as though he's a fool.

"You're letting her go?"

"She was never mine to begin with."

"Itachi Uchiha, you are _not_ going to give up now after all the-"

"Shisui," Itachi says tiredly. "I think you've been compromised."

"_What_?!"

"Whose side do you think I've been on this entire time, Shisui? Am I really going to let all this go?" Itachi asks, sweeping a hand across the impersonal apartment. Empty apartment. Shisui scoffs. Itachi glares. "No, the question is, Shisui, whose side you've been on this time? Are you with the clans? Namikaze?"

"I'm with _you_," Shisui says, voice dangerously dark. "I always have."

"Then act like it."

* * *

When Namikaze's government comes for Itachi instead of Sasuke, Shisui's leading the arrest and Itachi just tells them to make sure that the fish live.

* * *

"You have a choice," Kisame's voice says. "I'm really not sure what you are. No one is. It's a great masterpiece, your greatest genjutsu, but right now, you have to prove your loyalty to the Akatsuki otherwise Pein will kill you. You know too much."

"I know too much about everyone," Itachi tells Kisame through the voice piece.

"Then, for Kami's sake, just pick a side for once and stick to it. If you're going to come back to the Akatsuki, I'll stick up for you and your cousin. But if you choose another side, I'll be sent after you and I won't have any mercy."

* * *

"Your _stunt_ cost me my _son_," Namikaze hisses at Itachi through the glass as though he isn't glad that his son is out of the filth that Konoha has become. _As though he didn't ask._ Itachi shrugs.

"And if you aren't careful," Itachi says, "it'll cost you your wife."

Minato just frowns, then sighs. They're both tired of all this. Double, triple, quadruple agents who are so manipulative and scheming that they can't remember whose side they are on anymore.

"I'll take down Kurama," Itachi says, "if you let my wife and your son cross the borders and if you swear now to me that Shisui will not be harmed or held accountable for being an Uchiha in government or the enabler of the rebellion. Then you can kill me for the death of Orochimaru, pretend that your wife was never possessed by Orochimaru's demon, and you can rule Konoha in peace."

Minato considers this. "You would trust me with your country considering what I've done to it? Your father?"

"I trusted you when I joined the Akatsuki," Itachi says levelly. "I trusted you when I joined Orochimaru's government. Do not tell me my trust was misplaced and I have wasted a lifetime fighting for a lost cause."

Minato just looks at him almost pityingly. "I'm sorry," he says. "I never meant for this to happen."

"I think you did," Itachi says and Minato looks away.

* * *

He's dropped off right at the entrance of the underground clans. Shisui's right behind him, and they walk through the derelict buildings. The pathetic surviving clans look up at them with clear hostility, but a little show of red and black fire cautions their hands and Itachi and Shisui are allowed to walk straight to the buildings housing the remnants of the Uchiha.

"The Purging began when Kurama was said to be controlled by the Uchiha," Itachi says, not bothering with greeting. They know who he is, and they look at him as though they aren't sure if he is their saviour or their doom. "Kill Kurama and Namikaze will offer you an official pardon."

"And why should we bother with _pardons_ when we can take Namikaze down?"

"Because," Itachi says, giving the Uchiha boy a judging look. He stretches his arm out, and his black fire is summoned. It eats away at the rotting wood, and there are screams from women and children. He lets the fire burn for a moment - so long that even Shisui seems uncomfortable. Then the fire is extinguished and Itachi narrows his eyes. "What makes you think, Uchiha, that _you_ can take down Namikaze if you couldn't even take down Orochimaru?"

Itachi and Shisui walk out of the compound with the alliance of the last remaining clans of Konoha.

It's funny, he thinks, that they still think he's their leader, still trust him enough not to ask him how he knows that Namikaze won't just kill them on sight, how they think they have a chance with Kurama if they can't take down Minato. Still, they have heart, and Itachi thinks that coupled with the Akatsuki, he's got a chance yet.

* * *

"Okay," Kisame says when the Akatsuki arrive to answer Itachi's call and are met with the sight of a two hundred strong force of the hidden clans. "Whose side are you _really_ on, Itachi?"

* * *

Orochimaru's first mistake was using Kurama to possess the wife of Minato Namikaze. The man was and is one of the greatest shinobi Itachi has ever met, and his wife is equally as fearsome. She still isn't totally possessed by the demon, probably because she's an Uzumaki. It was a mistake to think Kurama could control the likes of Minato Namikaze (even if he did), a mistake to think that the man could not take his revenge.

Orochimaru's second mistake was targeting the Hyuga. His plan must have been to take down all who could possibly kill or detect Kurama, which would have sparked the Purging. But the Hyuga were never Kurama's greatest threat. Granted, their eyes would have Seen what had really happened, but it was always the Uchiha who had the more dangerous eyes, it was always the Uchiha whom Orochimaru should have killed first.

Orochimaru's last mistake was allowing the likes of Itachi, Shisui, and Minato to live.

It's startlingly easy when the Uchiha Clan has finally gotten their act together. Kushina Namikaze releases Kurama from her seals, Itachi uses the Mangekyou Sharingan to control the possessive demon, and the rest of the clans and Akatsuki take the demon down.

Easy. Simple.

It's a pity, Itachi thinks faintly as blood streams from his eyes and he staggers to the ground, that the Uchiha didn't do this from the start so that the mess with the Purging could have been avoided.

* * *

If Itachi wants to be truthful, other than the merciless Purging and the dubious scientific experiments, Orochimaru's government was incredibly fair and well run. In terms of social welfare of civilians, Minato has a lot to live up to. He tells Shisui this through familiar jail bars and Shisui looks at him as though he's not sure if he wants to throttle him or give him a hug, like they are young and impressionable again.

Itachi thinks, if he tries, he can remember Mikoto's smiles, Fugaku's pride, and Sasuke's laughter. He can remember the old days, the glory days, back when clans were clans and the greatest threat they had was their pride and each other. It was all rainbows and sunshine back then, and what Itachi wouldn't give to return to those days.

"I won't see you die on my watch, Itachi," Shisui hisses.

_Good_, Itachi wants to say. He doesn't want to see his greatest friend, his greatest ally see him die. "Konoha were indoctrinated to love Orochimaru and hate the clans. They'll never believe the truth. They need a villain. Who better than the Uchiha prince?"

"_I_ was the Uchiha genius, Itachi, _please_, I-"

"Had no part in this," Itachi says. He reaches through the jail bars, taps Shisui's forehead. "I'm already doomed, Shisui. I was doomed from the start, from the moment I activated the Mangekyou and my eyes started to decay, from the moment Kurama possessed Kushina. You, on the other hand, must live."

"What _for_?" Shisui snarls. "You, _you_ are all I've lived for."

"Live for yourself," Itachi says, "or, if you can't remember how to do that, make sure that Naruto Namikaze doesn't steal my widow and that Sasuke Uchiha doesn't do anything stupid like activate his Sharingan."

"I swore to protect you always."

"And now," Itachi says, "you must protect Sasuke. Have you seen him? He's a brat. He'll get himself killed if he doesn't get the guidance."

"You-"

"Shisui," Itachi says, breathes. "I'm dying. And you know it."

Shisui doesn't seem to be able to find the words to reply to that.

* * *

The execution is flamboyant, loud. He's paraded up and down streets in an open car to cheering crowds. They wave flags and throw things - tomatoes that Sasuke used to like when he was younger (does he still like them?), hard apples like the ones Mikoto used to use to make apple crumble, dango sticks that Anko Mitarashi (is she still alive? Is she still in the safe house with the other ANBU?) used to always have. He faintly wonders what Sasuke is doing. Shisui will take care of him, Itachi knows. And even if Shisui fails to, Sasuke's survived this long without Itachi. His little brother doesn't need him anymore. Itachi hopes that his ANBU squad has fared much, much better than he has.

The heroes that they were.

Itachi will go down in history as the evil Uchiha prince who killed Orochimaru and who was responsible for setting Kurama free - briefly, of course. The clans who came to the rescue are the new heroes and none of them can meet Itachi's eyes.

They surround him with guards and put so many seals on him until he's just a pile of metal and chakra cuffs. It's too hot, and Itachi almost wants to complain. He's going to die, after all, and he would like to do so in comfort. But it's almost amusing, Itachi thinks, that they think it is enough to stop him. He can break free, he can run. But he doesn't. They're lucky he doesn't. He thinks he sees Kisame in one of the crowds, thinks he sees Sasori and maybe Konan. He gives them a nod, and Konan presses two fingers to her heart.

Before Deidara, he was the Akatsuki's baby. Before Hinata, the Akatsuki were his family, and maybe there were times when Itachi forgot that the Akatsuki were his enemy.

He's made to walk up all 294 steps to the execution block at the top of the Hokage Monument. The sun is hot, hot, hot, like the unforgiving sun that used to shine in the Uchiha Compound. They used to blame everyone but themselves back then - it's Shisui with his fireballs again, it's the Hyuga with their mirrors again. Itachi wishes that the Uchiha had just admitted to the mess with Kurama, even if it hadn't been their fault. He wishes that the rest of the clans hadn't been so loyal and backed the Uchiha up.

But most of all, Itachi thinks as he briefly meets the eyes of Minato Namikaze, he wishes that he never met Hinata Hyuga. She'd been something of a side job on top of a side job. The mission he was given by Sarutobi and Namikaze, even before the Purging and Sarutobi's death, was to infiltrate the Akatsuki. He'd hated it there, killing and killing, and once the necessary information was found and relayed through his ANBU team, Itachi had returned to the city, dead set on finding his brother and reassuring himself that for all the little children he'd killed, the one who mattered most was still alive.

Then Hinata Hyuga appeared.

He'd met her in a bar, one night. He'd known who she was immediately. She was a fresh face, full of innocence, but Itachi would know those cheekbones, would know those contact-covered irritated eyes anywhere. He thinks that Hinata knew, deep down, who he was too. They'd met when they were younger, and once upon a time, Itachi might have been her friend. But Itachi made her an asset instead, and she'd been a very good one. She'd found him Sasuke, hadn't she?

The Hyuga were just a side job too. Just to make Itachi feel a little bit better about using Hinata Hyuga and stealing her away from Naruto. Just to make Hinata happy before her husband became the most hated man in all of Konoha. Because maybe Hinata Hyuga is not Izumi Uchiha, but the girl still deserves happiness too.

"Do you have anything to say in your defence?"

Itachi thinks that with time, he could have loved her.

(maybe he already did)

"No," Itachi says. There's a dark shadow in Namikaze's eyes, and Itachi interprets it as guilt. Oh, what for. He'd known from the start that once he became a member of the Akatsuki, he was a dead man. It was only a matter of who'd kill him first - the Akatsuki, Orochimaru's government, or that hereditary sickness that only Shisui knew about.

There is no guilt, Itachi thinks. He's saved a clan, Sasuke's alive, and Kushina is free from Kurama. Perhaps after this, Minato will be able to fix the mistakes he made, will be able to smooth over the Purging and Konoha will return to her beauty.

"A-Any last requests?"

Itachi locks eyes with Minato. "There is a study in my apartment. Burn my books and wipe my laptop."

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Minato's Second begins, but Minato understands. Itachi was Orochimaru's information gatherer, but the information that Itachi gathered was always only for Itachi's benefit. There is evidence amongst Itachi's collection that could topple kingdoms and governments.

"Consider it done," Minato says. "Anything else?"

Itachi tilts his head, wonders if Hinata or Shisui are watching through the TV or something. "I am sorry," he says to them. He hopes they understand. He's going to die anyway, and if he can save the neck of Minato Namikaze while he's at it, then surely...

Is it worth it? Itachi wonders. But the clans would have rebelled anyway. The Uchiha were always due to fall, and the age of the clans had long since passed before the Purging. Inevitable, he thinks. At least Naruto will be happy. His parents will live. Minato and Kushina are good and strong, and even if they took too long to infiltrate and throw down Orochimaru's government, even if Itachi had to do it for them, they will herald a new era. Konoha will flourish. The ultimate goal, the only goal for freedom is achieved.

There's nothing left to live for.

Hinata will be happy too, Itachi thinks. She'll marry Naruto, probably have a kid or two. He hopes Sasuke will be there and take care of them. Shisui will be, he'll probably be the godfather or something, the doting uncle. They'll be all right. Hanabi's Hyuga will take care of them.

Good, he thinks.

Good.

He's led to the execution block, and they make him kneel on the ground as though in repentance. Itachi knows the drill, sticks his neck out before they need to ask. The stone is hard, cold, and he can feel the notches where the axe has hit the rock many, many times. Too many times. The only blood that has ever stained this rock is clan blood. Minato promises Itachi's will be the last.

Good, he thinks.

He closes his eyes.

Kisame was right when he called it his greatest genjutsu. They were all fooled - Hinata, Shisui, Sasuke. The people who mattered lived.

Itachi wonders how many other people lived like him, how many people went down unmarked in the history books, how many heroes lived at the cost of other people's lives. How many people loved their country so much that they tricked everyone, even themselves.

The axe falls.

The curtains close.

* * *

**A/N**: this piece quite possibly has more line breaks in it than the two previous chapters combined. I am sorry. It would have had more, if not for the double spacing at the start of the story.

If you're sort of wondering what on earth this piece is about, I don't really know myself. It started of as a spy piece, then turned into a rebellion and then... this. The whole thing is a little skewed, I guess. This is a piece more about Itachi than Hinata, but Hinata's there for the majority of it. As for Itachi... well. Apart from being the ever adoring older brother and eternally self-sacrificing martyr, we have very little information about his personality or his ways of thinking. In this piece, Itachi was a boy who was stolen away by Minato Namikaze to do his dirty work for him. He poured his heart and soul to save Konoha, and in the process, destroyed all his emotions and opportunities for happiness. Shisui and Hinata were the innocent bystanders, caught up in the whirlwind that is Itachi Uchiha. I like to think that Itachi, for all his failings in terms of marital duty, did love Hinata in his own convoluted way. Hinata loves him - but he's just too blind to see it.

I don't even know what I'm doing anymore


End file.
